A monthly gauge of online labor demand in the United States rose 2.1 percent in August, helped as retailers needed more workers for the back-to-school season, a private research group said on Friday.
Monster Worldwide Inc, an online careers and recruiting firm, said its employment index rose to 147 points last month from 144 in July. The index was also up 8.1 percent from a year ago.
"We're seeing continued measured growth. It's encouraging," said Jesse Harriott, a senior vice president at Monster.
Harriott said there was no evidence of companies paring hiring due to recent economic jitters, but it could take one to two months for that impact to show up.
The index showed annual growth in 16 of the 20 industries tracked and 19 of the 23 occupations monitored last month.
Along with improvements in retail, the transportation and warehousing industry rose compared with last year, as did the information sector.
The report was another look at the jobs market ahead of the government's monthly nonfarm payrolls report due later on Friday. The economy is expected to have added 75,000 jobs in August, according to a Reuters poll.
The Monster Employment index is a monthly analysis based on a selection of corporate career sites and job boards. The margin of error is approximately plus or minus 1 percent.
(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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