NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2003 - The New York Times Job Market Confidence Index increased slightly to 91.7 in September from 87.4 in August. The Confidence Index, which measures job market perceptions of employers and job seekers in the greater New York metropolitan area, is a combination of the Current Conditions and Future Expectations Indices and February 2002 baseline measure.

September's Current Conditions measure of the Index, which looks at respondents' perceptions of the current state of the job market, rose to 100.2 in September from 87.4 in August. The Expectations measure of the Index, which considers respondents' expectations concerning the future of the job market in six months, rose to 90.4 in September from 89.4 in August. For these results, February 2002 served as the base month, with values equal to 100.0.

"The perception of the current job market is improving among both job seekers and employers," said Carl Haacke, economist for The New York Times Job Market Confidence Index. "It is not yet clear if this will translate into real hiring activity, however, because more employers are reporting that they have enough staff to handle their current workload and that they see that balance continuing into the near future."

Other key findings for September include:

• The percentage of employers who say jobs are "plentiful" in the New York area rose to 17 percent in September from 13 percent in August.
• More employers are reporting that they expect salaries and bonuses to increase over the next six months, with 36 percent saying so in September, compared to 30 percent in August.
• The majority of employers continue to say that they currently have the right number of people to handle their workload - as opposed to having "too many" or "too few." Seventy-two percent (72%) of employers said this in September, up from 71% in August. This figure has steadily increased over the past seven months and is at its highest level since the Index was introduced in February 2002.
• Looking to the future, 79 percent of employers said in September that they expect to have the right number of employees to meet their expected workload six months from now, up from 76 percent who said this in August. This finding is at its highest level since the Index was introduced in February 2002.

For the September results, 501 hiring managers and 334 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 www.nytimes.com, where job seekers can find job listings, career-related Times articles, exhaustive company research, a résumé 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 1.2 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 the 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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