Monster Employment Index Europe Edges Up in August, Showing Recruiting Momentum

Monster Employment Index Europe:

-- Growth in Online Vacancies in Germany, Netherlands and UK
Pushes Up Overall Demand --

-- Heavy Industries Such As Construction and Manufacturing Show
Growth in Online Recruiting in August, While Transport, Post
and Logistics Shows Continued Growth --

-- Jump in Demand for Craft and Related Workers, as Opportunities
for Skilled Agricultural Workers Falls-off at the End of the
Summer --

The Monster Employment Index Europe grew steadily in August,
rising one point to 126, following two months of solid growth. Despite
a plunge in online job availability in France, demand across Europe as
a whole was up from July, due to strong demand in Germany, the
Netherlands and the UK. Sweden registered a fall in online recruiting.
Year-on-year growth in online job availability across Europe according
to the Index now stands at 20 points or 19 percent.
The full Monster Employment Index Europe report 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.
Monster Employment Index Europe data for September will be released on
October 10, 2006.
Most industry sectors showed higher levels of online job
availability in August. Heavy industries such as the production,
manufacturing, maintenance and repair; and construction and extraction
sectors showed strong increases, while the education, training and
library sector also registered a positive increase. Other key economic
sectors such as banking, finance and insurance; public sector; IT; and
sales all showed little or no overall change.
Demand across occupational groups was largely steady in August,
with the exception of craft and related workers; and skilled
agricultural workers, which saw a strong rise and sharp fall
respectively. All other occupational categories registered minor
changes in demand, suggesting little overall change in those
occupations during August.

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

-0-
*T
Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul
06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 05 05 05 05 05 05
----------------------------------------------------------------------
126 125 121 116 116 117 116 106 112 111 112 107 106 106
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*T

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

-0-
*T
Country Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul
06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 05 05 05 05 05 05
----------------------------------------------------------------------
France 124 146 126 119 123 118 122 107 112 110 111 91 99 114
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Germany 121 119 115 115 112 113 109 106 109 111 112 111 108 104
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Netherlands 160 154 159 155 148 136 126 116 119 113 111 105 105 109
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sweden 112 116 129 117 119 117 111 116 109 101 100 97 86 97
----------------------------------------------------------------------
United Kingdom128 123 125 108 115 120 128 101 118 108 108 100 102 108
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*T

Launched in June 2005 with data collected since December 2004, the
Monster Employment Index Europe is compiled by Monster Worldwide,
parent company of leading global online careers and recruitment
resource, Monster(R). The Index was established to provide European
labour market watchers with a valuable monthly snapshot of online
recruitment activity based on the researching of millions of employer
postings across more than 1,400 Web sites. In addition to providing an
analysis of European online job demand, the Index offers a sub-index
by occupation, including data on nine occupational categories in five
countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United
Kingdom. The Index is independently audited by ARC Research, a
U.S.-based market research company, to ensure the accuracy of the data
within a margin of error of +/- 1.05%. The Monster Employment Index
debuted in the U.S. in April 2004.