Steve Pogorzelski Solid Quotations

Overall, the U.S. labor market is off to a very solid start in 2006 as strong business fundamentals continue to boost employer demand for workers, creating more job opportunities and driving the unemployment rate down to well below 5 percent. Demand for workers in the U.S. remains elevated at the outset of the year, while the online migration of help-wanted advertising continues at a rapid pace. The Index's findings for February clearly indicate greater confidence among employers throughout much of the country, largely due to the underlying strength of the economy. This is encouraging news for job seekers and bodes well for this year's class of college graduates as they begin their search for employment.

The surge in the Monster Local Employment Index in February suggests a healthy and confident business climate across all major metro areas in the U.S., with particularly strong growth amongst markets in the West and South. The first quarter of the year is clearly off to a solid start with the Index results showing strong, broad growth in employer demand for workers.

The Monster Employment Index has shown strong, steady, upward growth throughout most of 2005, with a noteworthy growth trend over the past four months, ending in an expected seasonal dip in December. The past month's decline indicates the slowdown in online hiring registered in December of 2003 and 2004, as employers typically wrap up their seasonal hiring activity and await approval on 2006 budgets. Despite this anticipated seasonal slowdown, almost all industries, occupations, regions and states show much higher levels of online job availability than a year ago, demonstrating solid growth over the course of 2005. This certainly bodes well for job seekers as we enter 2006.

Despite this anticipated seasonal slowdown, almost all industries, occupations, regions and states show much higher levels of online job availability than a year ago, demonstrating solid growth over the course of 2005.

The January findings of the Monster Local Employment Index show that eight major U.S. markets rebounded from a seasonal slowdown in recruitment in December, indicating increased online hiring activity due to higher demand for workers. The national Index findings for January were clearly consistent with other labor and economic indicators pointing to solid employment growth at the outset of 2006, so overall, this year's labor market appears to be off to another strong start.