• by September 9, 2004

Corzen, a provider of market research and intelligence, today reports that revenues for the top three online job boards rose 38 percent in the second quarter, versus the same period a year ago. During the second quarter of 2003, print recruitment advertising in newspapers increased just 20 percent, according to Newspaper Association of America estimates.

In May, Corzen reported the top online jobs giants: Monster ranked first, raking in nearly $320 million in the U.S. in 2003; Careerbuilder, owned by newspaper chains Gannett Co., Tribune Co., and Knight Ridder, came in second with $160 million; and Yahoo!'s HotJobs generated nearly $90 million for the period.

So, if online job classifieds are showing growth, is that an indication that the economic rebound is, in fact, a reality? Or, does it mean that companies pared back so much during the downturn that they find themselves in a panic over recruitment?

"It's typical for recruitment advertising to pick up during even modest economic recoveries," said Bruce Murray, CEO of Corzen, Inc., in a statement. "Although everyone has felt for some time that the economy would improve, no one was sure if the presence of online job boards would limit the upside for newspapers during the recovery."

Corzen notes that in the first quarter of 2004, online job board revenue growth was 27 percent, while the growth rate for daily newspaper help wanted advertising was only four percent. Corzen's data estimates revenue share trends in more than 100 local metropolitan areas in the U.S.