The Lintberg Index, displaying the opportunities for candidates in the top level of the labor market, was forced to take a step back in the month of August. A similar development occured in 2010, where a short-lived rise in July was followed by a severe drop in August.

The previous month saw a decrease of 40% in published 100k+ positions as compared to July. The number of applications remained mostly unchanged (-2%). A noticeable feat occured in the first few days of September, when the number of newly published positions already amounted to 30% of the total number of published positions in August.

September is a traditionally strong month for online recruitment. “If we can maintain the upward line of the first couple of days in September, we will definitely experience a strong month”, says Thomas Verbeeck of Lintberg.

Lintberg Index shows Severe drop in August

The Lintberg Index for July, representing the chances for candidates in the executive segment of the labour market, shows a substantial rise of 7 index points as opposed to June. After three months of relatively little change, the index for July reaches 82 points.

Despite the holiday season, the number of published €100k+ positions increased by more than 8% compared to June. In return, the same period saw a decrease in processed applications of 25%. Combined, this explains the rise of the index. The number of outstanding jobs dropped by 2.9% in July, making this the fifth consecutive decline in as many months.

“Most noticeably is the rise of the number of €100k+ positions in the finance sector, during the pas three months,” says Thomas Verbeeck of Lintberg.

Lintberg Index increases by 7 points

* The Lintberg Index is a monthly analysis of developments in the top 2% of the labour market. The index is a weighted index based on the number of running vacancies, the number of new vacancies, the positions advertising period and the total the number of application on €100K+ jobs in the Netherlands based on the input of the market leader Lintberg. A higher index indicates an improved labour market for professionals in the 100k+ segment.

The Lintberg Index, representing the chances for candidates in the top segment of the labor market, remained stabile in May, as compared to April.

After several strong months, the index took a hit in April with a decrease of 23 index points. In May, the index only recovered by one point. A positive note is that a 9% increase of newly published 100k+ positions was noticeable.

However, because of an 8% increase in responses, this has little direct effect on a higher number of the index. This also added by the fact that the number of outstanding positions has declined slightly for the third month in a row.

According to Lintberg’s Thomas Verbeeck, the first half of May was rather weak with a strong second half recovery. All in all the outlooks for June are promising, says Verbeeck.

Lintberg Index shows stabile progress in May

* The Lintberg Index is a monthly analysis of developments in the top 2% of the labour market. The index is a weighted index based on the number of running vacancies, the number of new vacancies, the positions advertising period and the total the number of application on €100K+ jobs in the Netherlands based on the input of the market leader Lintberg. A higher index indicates an improved labour market for professionals in the 100k+ segment.

The Lintberg Index, representing the chances for candidates in the top segment of the labor market, has taken a step back in April. After three consecutively strong months the index dropped from 97 to 74, a decrease of 23 points. A small decline in the number of newly available 100k+ positions was already noticeable in the second half of March, this trend continued into April. The last week of the month showed signs of recovery, with an increase in published positions.

The number of new positions in April proved to be 18% less. Furthermore, in April around 10% more applications were processed as compared to the month before. This increase also contributes to the lower index.

Lintberg Index takes a step back in April

* The Lintberg Index is a monthly analysis of developments in the top 2% of the labour market. The index is a weighted index based on the number of running vacancies, the number of new vacancies, the positions advertising period and the total the number of application on €100K+ jobs in the Netherlands based on the input of the market leader Lintberg. A higher index indicates an improved labour market for professionals in the 100k+ segment.

The Lintberg Index, representing the chances for candidates in the top segment of the labor market, has increased for the fourth month in a row and is steadily growing towards 100 points. A level that was last reached 26 months ago (januari 2009).

Despite the number of 100k+ positions dropping in the second half of March, the total number of open job opportunities in the past month reached a similar level as February.

Remarkable for March was the large number of hires, which has contributed to a shorter recruiting period per position (also a factor in calculating the index).

“Because a relatively high amount of vacancies have been filled, this number will have to be equalled in April to keep the index at an even level”, says Thomas Verbeeck of Lintberg.

Lintberg Index grows towards 100-points mark

The Lintberg Index* for February totals at 94 points, proving an increase in the index for the third month in a row. Most significantly the numbers are fastly approaching the level of over 2 years ago, when the index reached a level of over 100 points in January 2009.

Despite February being a short month, it showed a 34% increase in new 100k+ positions compared to January. The improving index of the past months is predominantly caused by a relatively stronger increase in new job opportunities in the top segment of the market as compared to the number of new candidates.

Especially the positions in general management, finance and sales continue to grow in numbers, whereas the segments real estate and HR remain at the same low level as before.

The February Lintberg index moves to 100 points

* The Lintberg Index is a monthly analysis of developments in the top 2% of the labour market. The index is a weighted index based on the number of running vacancies, the number of new vacancies, the positions advertising period and the total the number of application on €100K+ jobs in the Netherlands based on the input of the market leader Lintberg. A higher index indicates an improved labour market for professionals in the 100k+ segment.

The Lintberg Index for January shows a similar level as November of 2010. The increase that has started in August is still continuing strongly (with two small drops in October and December) and appears to be solid for the coming time.

Despite a bad first two weeks in January ’11, with few new 100k+ positions, the second half of the month more than made up for this, with week 4 as absolute peak.

“The outlook for February is positive, with a predicted rise of chances in the 100k+ job market in all available industries”, says Mr. Thomas Verbeeck of Lintberg.

Lintberg Index continues rise and achieves November levels

* The Lintberg Index is a monthly analysis of developments in the top 2% of the labour market. The index is a weighted index based on the number of running vacancies, the number of new vacancies, the positions advertising period and the total the number of application on €100K+ jobs in the Netherlands based on the input of the market leader Lintberg. A higher index indicates an improved labour market for professionals in the 100k+ segment.

The december edition of the Lintberg Index shows a small decline in the chances of candidates searching for a job in the 100k+ market segment. This downward trend was caused by more available candidates entering the market combined with a limited number of new positions being published, as predicted in the previous Lintberg Index blog.

The numbers for January are almost in, so stay tuned for future developments!

Lintberg Index December shows small decline (click for large graph)

* The Lintberg Index is a monthly analysis of developments in the top 2% of the labour market. The index is a weighted index based on the number of running vacancies, the number of new vacancies, the positions advertising period and the total the number of application on €100K+ jobs in the Netherlands based on the input of the market leader Lintberg. A higher index indicates an improved labour market for professionals in the 100k+ segment.