Hiring Expectations for the Future Improve

NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2003 – The New York Times Job Market Confidence Index dropped slightly to 95.5 in November from 95.9 in October. 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 the February 2002 baseline measure.

November's Current Conditions measure of the Index, which looks at respondents' perceptions of the current state of the job market, dropped to 92.6 in November from 102.6 in October. The Expectations measure of the Index, which considers respondents' expectations concerning the condition of the job market in six months, rose to 98.2 in November from 95.9 in October. For these results, February 2002 served as the base month with values equal to 100.0.

"Employers were more likely to report that there were fewer jobs available in November compared to October, which is probably a reflection of a normal seasonal decline in hiring," said Carl Haacke, economist for The New York Times Job Market Confidence Index. "But the stronger overall economy finally seems to be lifting expectations for the future job market. Both employers and job seekers anticipate gains in the next six months."

Other key findings for November include:

• Forty-seven percent of employers (47%) say there are very few jobs available right now, up from 40 percent who said this in October.
• The proportion of employers who thought there would be more jobs available in six months rose to 29 percent in November from 24 percent in October. This is the largest one-month increase since the survey began in February 2002.
• One-quarter of employers (25%) say that they currently have too few people to handle their workload - an indication that they may see the need to begin hiring soon (and the highest proportion who have said this since May).
• Job seekers are displaying a similar optimism about the future: 43 percent of job seekers in November say they expect there will be more jobs available in six months, up from 36 percent who said so in October. This also represents the single largest monthly increase since the survey was launched.

For the November results, 500 hiring managers and 333 job seekers were interviewed. Interviews were independently conducted for The New York Times Job Market by Beta Research Corporation by means of 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 1.4 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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