Monster Employment Index Europe Edges Higher in December 2006

The Monster Employment Index Europe edged up one point in December
2006 to a level of 126 as stepped up online recruitment activity in
France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK served to offset flat
demand in Germany. The Index has now remained between 124-126 points
for two consecutive quarters, demonstrating stable demand for workers
across the five countries tracked. Year-on-year growth for the Index
is 14 points.

Additional information on the Monster Employment Index Europe is
available online at http://euindex.monsterworldwide.com. Visitors can
subscribe to receive the European Index report, as well as any or all
of the five country-specific Index reports on a monthly basis via
email. Individual Index reports are produced for five European
countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United
Kingdom. These reports also provide a breakdown of trends across
occupations and sectors.

The six key industry sectors tracked by the Index showed minor
changes in December, with only education, training and library; and
banking, finance, insurance showing slight increases. Public sector,
defence and community; and sales remained flat, while construction and
extraction; and production, manufacturing, maintenance and repair
fell.

Four of the nine occupational categories rose in December, while
another four declined and one remained flat. The most significant rise
observed was for plant and machine operators, which saw a gain for the
third consecutive month and is now showing year-on-year growth of 29
points.

Monster Employment Index Europe results for the past 14 months are
as follows:

-0-
*T
Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov
06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 05 05
----------------------------------------------------------------------
126 125 126 124 126 125 121 116 116 117 116 106 112 111
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*T

Findings for the five countries tracked by the Monster Employment
Index Europe for th e past 14 months are as follows:

-0-
*T
Country Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov
06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 05 05
----------------------------------------------------------------------
France 140 134 136 128 124 146 126 119 123 118 122 107 112 110
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Germany 118 118 119 119 121 119 115 115 112 113 109 106 109 111
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Netherlands 180 173 167 163 160 154 159 155 148 136 126 116 119 113
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sweden 145 138 131 123 112 116 129 117 119 117 111 116 109 101
----------------------------------------------------------------------
United Kingdom129 128 127 125 128 123 125 108 115 120 128 101 118 108
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*T

Launched in June 2005 with data collected since December 2004, the
Monster Employment Index Europe is compiled by Monster Worldwide. The
Index was established to provide European labour market watchers with
a valuable monthly snapshot of online recruitment activity based on
the research of millions of employer postings from more than 1,400 Web
sites. In addition to providing an analysis of overall European online
job demand, the Index shows changes in online opportunities within
industry sectors and occupational groups.