Illinois online job postings unexpectedly dip

Online advertised job vacancies in Illinois unexpectedly fell 2.4 percent in August from July, but rose 14.5 percent from August 2011, mirroring the national trend, according to the latest report from the Conference Board.

There were 177,900 adver- tised vacancies in Illinois last month, down by 4,400 from July, but up by 22,500 from August 2011.

Nationally, online advertised job vacancies dropped 2.3 percent in August from July, but rose 10 percent from August 2012.

There were 4.68 million online advertised vacancies last month.

“August is a month when we normally expect to see employers gear up for the fall, but this year, labor demand was disappointingly below seasonal expectations,” June Shelp, vice president at the Conference Board, said in a statement.

But on the positive side, the nation has an average monthly increase of 45,000 online advertised jobs, and 45 of the 50 states are still showing gains for the year, including Illinois, the report showed.

The biggest month-overmonth declines nationally were in sales and related fields, down 36,600; computer and mathematical science, down 26,800; and office and administrative support, down 11,300.

Health-care practitioner and technical occupations were the only ones that experienced an increase in August, rising by 16,300.