CATAAlliance and Monster have recently launched a new barometer to measure labour market trends and help evaluate demand in the IT industry.

The Advanced Technology Employment Index provides a monthly measure of online job demand and is designed to highlight key labour market trends in Canada. Based on data culled from Monster and other recruitment websites believed to be representative of employer online hiring activity nationwide, the index enables extensive real-time analysis of online recruitment trends by occupation, region and major metropolitan areas.

It showed a four-point surge in May, following a slowdown in the previous month.

"The index rise indicates renewed growth in online recruitment activity across major high tech job categories," says John Reid, CATA President. "It confirms recent feedback from the CATA Board of Directors that their enterprises are growing steadily and could face future talent shortages in a highly competitive global talent marketplace."

Mr. Reid added that the rise in online hiring activity was largely driven by increased demand for workers in the areas of engineering, computer services, telco, IT, biotechnology and pharmaceutical.

The index showed a full 15 occupational categories edged up in May while six categories slipped lower. The largest increase in job postings were reported in information technology, engineering, computer software, consulting services, telecommunications, and energy/utilities. The index showed more than 2.5 million searches for jobs in advanced technology categories were conducted on Monster.ca in May.

"CATA members will gain valuable insights into the competition for skilled IT workers," said Mr. Reid. "Knowing how much demand currently exists for the different types of IT positions in each province enables hiring managers to proactively adjust their recruitment strategies so that they can lure top talent away from competing employers."