NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2003--The New York Times Job Market Confidence Index rose 3.1 points to 95.8 in April from 92.7 in March.

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

April's Current Conditions measure of the Index, which looks at respondents' perceptions of the current state of the job market, rose to 107.5 in April from 95.9 in March. The Expectations measure of the Index, which considers respondents' expectations concerning the future of the job market in six months, dropped slightly to 93.5 in April from 93.9 in March. For these results, February 2002 served as the base month, with values equal to 100.0.

"We're beginning to see signs of a gradual trend toward a stronger job market," said Carl Haacke, economist for the Job Market Confidence Index. "For several months now, employees have been increasingly more secure about their current jobs while more employers have vacancies and expect to be hiring for new positions."

Key findings for April include:

• More employers are reporting that they have vacancies, with 41 percent saying so in April compared to 36 percent in March. This is the third consecutive increase from a low of 32 percent that was reported in February.
• An increasing number of employers also say they expect to hire for "newly created positions," with 30 percent saying so in April, up from 27 percent in March. This represents eight continuous months of improvement from the low of 20 percent reported in September of 2002.
• Job seekers are also reporting some improvement, with 72 percent in April saying it is not likely that they will be laid off, up from 66 percent in March. This represents the fourth consecutive month of improvement from a low of 61 percent reported in January.
• There has also been a progressive increase in the number of employees quitting their jobs. Twenty-five percent of employers report that they have job separations due to employees' resigning their positions. This is up from the 21 percent reported in March and represents the fourth consecutive increase from a low of 15 percent in January.

For the April results, 500 hiring managers and 324 job seekers were interviewed. Interviews are conducted by Beta Research Corporation 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 www.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 4.2 million weekday readers and 5.0 million Sunday readers as well as the 1.5 million readers who visit www.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 www.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.

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CONTACT: The New York Times Company Diane McNulty, 212/556-5244 mcnuldc@nytimes.com or Al Leach, 212/556-4483 promo8@nytimes.com SOURCE: The New York Times Company