Yesterday in his blog, @TobyDayton, using data provided by LINKUP, our job search engine that grabs only jobs off company website, ‘called’ the unemployment numbers issued today by the Department of Labor. Even though everyone else was predicting sunshine and roses, Toby said…wait, not so fast, the numbers from LinkUp tell a different story.
The Department of Labor will release its jobs report for December tomorrow, and the data will undoubtedly show that the economy is a long way from healthy recovery mode. Economists are expecting that the U.S. economy actually added jobs during the month, marking the first monthly job gains since December of 2007. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, which rose again in December, adds a faint glimmer of hope that this might be the case.
Not a chance.
If LinkUp’s data is any indication, the U.S. economy is still on life support and job growth remains a mirage. LinkUp, a job search engine that only indexes job listings that are found exclusively from over 20,000 corporate websites around the U.S., released its December jobs report today and the news is grim. Job listings on company websites in the LinkUp index dropped by 108,837 (24%) from November. Total job listings on company websites dropped by 142,641 (17%).
LinkUp is not simply a predictor of information. It is a quite valuable tool for job seekers who understand that one of the best ways to find a new job is to find the job on the company website. In fact, we have created all sorts of tools that will help the job seeker and the relevant company. From our IPhone app (now in the top 33 of all free business apps), to our Facebook app (Current Jobs at Our Company), we are constantly improving the job seeker experience…and the likelihood that he or she can find a job. (BTW, about 70% of the jobs on LinkUp are not advertised elsewhere.)
So the next time you search for a new opening on SimplyHired or Indeed, remember to check out LINKUP next. Simply Hired and Indeed aggregate jobs from job boards…a good idea in its day…but as they say, Garbage In, Garbage Out.
For media types, you can get the inside LINKUP information ahead of the Department of Labor by calling us.
No user commented in " Ahead of the Bell: LinkUp Called the Jobs Number (and will continue to do so) "
Your search engine LinkUp is an interesting concept, It’s good that there is a central place to check jobs from various company sites. It’s also always good to have several parties collecting statistics.