Monster Employment Index Europe Shows Moderate Rise in March



    March 2008 Index Highlights:

    -- Index rises five points in March, leaving online job
    availability 31 percent higher than a year ago and indicating
    continued robust employer demand for labour across the
    European Union

    -- Production, manufacturing, maintenance, repair; and
    environment, architecture and urbanism register the largest
    increases in online recruitment both month-to-month and
    year-on-year

    -- Opportunities in the real estate; and banking, finance,
    insurance sectors remain well below levels from last year

    -- Demand picks up for all occupational groups in March except
    skilled agricultural and fishery workers

    -- Italy shows the strongest monthly increase, while France notes
    the sharpest decline

    -- Year-on-year Germany emerges as the top growth market for the
    first time on record while only Belgium reports a decrease in
    offerings.

    "EU online recruitment activity picked up further pace in March,
    driven primarily by strong demand for technically skilled workers in
    areas such as architecture, engineering and manufacturing," said Hugo
    Sellert, Head of Economic Research, Monster Worldwide. "The underlying
    strengthening in demand has by and large been fuelled by Germany,
    Europe´s largest economy, whose job market appears to have been
    gaining momentum in spite of concerns about slowing economic growth."

    "Unemployment rates across the European Union have continued
    falling largely because employment is growing at a higher pace than
    the workforce," added Sellert. "The tightening labour market has
    resulted in ever more challenging recruitment conditions and the
    scarcity of qualified workers is likely adding to the availability of
    unfilled jobs."

    Monster Employment Index Europe findings for the past 13 months.

    -0-
    *T
    Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar
    08 08 08 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    170 165 139 155 155 149 147 143 148 145 143 133 130
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    *T

    Findings for the key countries tracked by the Monster Employment
    Index Europe for the past 13 months are as follows:

    -0-
    *T
    Country Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar
    08 08 08 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Belgium 134 133 118 127 125 127 136 133 133 135 135 140 139
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    France 160 167 140 156 157 160 147 154 160 154 143 148 139
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Germany 148 146 125 135 142 136 139 132 132 129 129 121 116
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Italy 172 155 143 158 153 143 144 145 158 146 150 150 142
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Netherlands 210 201 188 205 202 204 197 193 197 191 198 191 185
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Sweden 206 209 187 204 191 191 176 165 175 188 183 171 163
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    United Kingdom 187 192 160 174 169 160 162 167 165 170 162 141 150
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    *T

    Monthly Index reports for Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the
    Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Europe are available at:

    http://corporate.monster.com/Press_Room/MEI_EU.asp