A major US online recruitment index has shown that online demand for workers experienced a 7 per cent year-on-year rise in January.

The Monster Employment Index, put together by online recruitment site Monster.com, showed that all of the 28 major city markets they monitor across the US showed positive annual growth in January.

Jesse Harriott, one of the senior vice presidents of Monster behind the compilation of the index, said that certain sectors were showing consistent growth and opportunity – with mining and wholesale trade actually showing the greatest demand for labour.

“Private sector hiring, including in IT, business and healthcare occupations has been fuelling growth which is encouraging,” she said. “At the same time cuts in government-related recruitment since December are weighing down on overall growth, but not enough to prevent year-on-year growth for the first month of 2011.”

The index surveyed 20 sectors in total, with 12 showing positive annual growth. Demand for jobs and labour in wholesale trade rose by 14 per cent, which was matched by professional, scientific, and technical services.

The industries in the private sector that showed the slowest annual growth in January were accommodation and food services, which fell on the index by 16 per cent.

Geoff Newman, chief executive of online recruiter Recruitment Genius, commented “The increased demand for workers is excellent for our US operation which is noticing significant growth. Importantly it also represents hope for the UK economy which is going through a bumpy recovery.”

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