NEW YORK, Sep 2, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The New York Times Job Market Confidence Index declined slightly in August to 87.4 from 88.4 in July (revised figure). The Confidence Index, which measures the perceptions of employers and job seekers of the job market in the greater New York metropolitan area, is a combination of the Current Conditions and Future Expectations Indices and February 2002 baseline measure.

Results for the July 2003 Current and Total Indices were revised.

August's Current Conditions measure of the Index, which looks at respondents' perceptions of the current state of the job market, declined slightly to 87.4 in August from 90.5 in July. The Expectations measure of the Index, which considers respondents' expectations concerning the future of the job market in six months, dropped to 89.4 in August from 91.0 in July (revised figure). For these results, February 2002 served as the base month, with values equal to 100.0.

Positive key findings for August include:

• The percentage of employers who say that there are currently very few jobs available dropped to 41 percent in August from 47 percent in July, representing the largest decline since the survey began in February 2002.
• Similarly, the percentage of employers who say that there will be fewer jobs available in six months dropped to 13 percent in August from 24 percent in July.
• The percentage of employers who say they have "too many" people to handle their current workload dropped to 6 percent in August from 11 percent in July, the lowest level since August 2002.

Negative key findings for August include:

• The percentage of employers who say they do not expect to hire in the next six months rose to 52 percent in August from 49 percent in July, the highest level since the survey began.
• The percentage of job seekers who say there will be more jobs available in six months declined to 27 percent in August from 30 percent in July.
• The percentage of job seekers who say their income will be higher next year declined to 55 percent in August from 60 percent in July, its lowest level since the survey began.

For the August results, 501 hiring managers and 322 job seekers were interviewed. Interviews were independently conducted for The New York Times by Beta Research Corporation via random telephone interviews with 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 5.0 million weekday readers and 5.5 million Sunday readers as well as the 1.3 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. For the third consecutive year, the Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's 2002 list of America's Most Admired Companies. 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.

This press release can be downloaded from www.nytco.com and www.nytco.com/community

SOURCE: The New York Times Company

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