The Confidence Index measures the perceptions of employers and job seekers in the greater New York metropolitan area.

January's Current Conditions measure of the Index, which looks at respondents' perceptions of the current state of the job market, dropped to 93.3 in January from 113.4. The Expectations measure of the Index, which considers respondents' expectations concerning the future of the job market in six months, rose slightly to 95.4 in January from 94.0 in December. For these results, February 2002 served as the base month, with values equal to 100.0.

"Perceptions of the current job market among both job seekers and employers continue to decline," said Carl Haacke, economist for the Job Market Confidence Index. "But we are seeing some gradual improvement in the outlook for the future among job seekers."

Key findings for January include:

-- Employers see fewer jobs available in the market, with 47% of employers saying that there are currently "very few" jobs available compared with 36% reported in December. -- Fewer employers report that they are trying to fill vacancies in their own firms. The percent of employers saying they are trying to fill one or more vacancies dropped to 33% in January compared to 40% in December. -- Job seekers are also reporting that they see fewer jobs available. The percent of job seekers saying there are "very few" jobs available rose from 55% in January compared to 51% in December. -- The percent of job seekers who say that there would be "more" jobs in six months rose to 37% in January from 33% in December. -- 34% of employers say that they expect to increase the total number of people employed in their organization, about the same as reported in December (35%). -- The percent of employers who expect to pay higher salaries and bonuses in six months dropped to 36% in January compared to 47% in December.

For the January results, 500 hiring managers and 401 job seekers were interviewed. Interviews are conducted via telephone with random samples of job seekers and hiring managers in the New York metropolitan area. The survey results for each month include responses obtained over the previous two-month period.

About Job Market

Job Market, the print and online recruitment services offering of The New York Times, provides employers and job seekers with comprehensive resources to streamline the recruitment process. Job Market appears in The New York Times every Sunday and is updated throughout the week at NYTimes.com, where job seekers can find job listings, career-related Times articles, exhaustive company research, a resume database and valuable career resources.

Through the newspaper's national audience, which includes 3.9 million weekday readers and 4.8 million Sunday readers as well as the 1.2 million readers who visit NYTimes.com every day, The New York Times Job Market reaches a marketplace of high-quality professionals actively seeking new job opportunities or considering career moves.

Each week, The New York Times Job Market issues research on industry trends and workplace practices affecting employers and job seekers in the metropolitan New York region. On a monthly basis, The New York Times Job Market releases its Job Market Confidence Index. The Index tracks current conditions for recruitment in the New York metro area as well as future outlook for the coming six months. Copies of Job Market research reports are available upon request or at NYTimes.com/jobmarket. New York-based Beta Research Corporation, via random telephone interviews, independently conducts The New York Times Job Market research.

NOTE: Job Market research is not affiliated with the editorial operations of The New York Times newspaper and does not reflect the views of the newspaper or its journalists. Source all references to Job Market research as: The New York Times Job Market.

About The New York Times Company

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2002 revenues of $3.1 billion, includes The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 16 other newspapers, eight network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and more than 40 Web sites, including NYTimes.com and Boston.com. The Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's most recent list of America's Most Admired Companies and was ranked No. 1 in quality of products/services and No. 1 in social responsibility among all 530 companies on the list. In 2003 the Company was named by Fortune as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

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