Online advertised vacancies declined 138,500 to 5,280,200 in September, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine Data Series, released today. The August Supply/Demand rate stands at 1.48 unemployed for each advertised vacancy with a total of 2.6 million more unemployed workers than the number of advertised vacancies. The number of unemployed was 8.0 million in August.

"The third quarter of 2015 closed with a small over-the-quarter decline of 21,000,"  said Gad Levanon, Managing Director of Macroeconomic and Labor Market Research at The Conference Board. "Labor demand in 2015 started with a very strong first quarter, followed by losses in the second quarter and an essentially flat third quarter, leaving the average monthly increases in 2015 at a modest 18,000 per month. While the number of ads flattened in recent months, it remains at a very high level, suggesting a strong labor demand."

In September, the Professional category showed gains in Computer/Math (+11.1), Healthcare Practitioners (+7.1) and Management (+3.9) with losses in the other areas. The Services/Production category saw losses in all areas including Office and Administration (-20.3), Food (-13.0) and Transportation (-11.7).