— Online Hiring Falls Slightly Following Record Growth in February —

— HR Sector Hit Hardest —

Online recruitment activity in the UK eased slightly in March as the Monster Employment Index dropped by 5 points, following record growth in February. The Monster Employment Index UK is a monthly analysis of millions of online job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards across Europe, including Monster.co.uk.

The Index fell to a level of 187 points in March, partly due to a significant drop in online job availability in the HR sector. The Index also showed a notable decrease in demand for craft and related workers. Overall, the Index is up 37 points, or 25 percent, compared to March 2007.

"Despite the slight dip in March, the first quarter of 2008 brought strong growth in online job demand,” said Hugo Sellert, Head of Economic Research, Monster Worldwide. "The labour market remains tight as employers continue to try and fill vacancies. The financial sector shows fewer opportunities than last year amid continued turmoil in the banking sector, but prospects for growth across most other UK industries still appear favourable.”

Monster Employment Index UK results over the past 13 months are as follows:

Mar08   Feb08   Jan08   Dec07   Nov07   Oct07   Sept07
187   192    160   174   169   160   162

Aug07   Jul07   Jun07   May07    Apr07    Mar07
167   165   170   162   141   150

Notable Decline in HR Hiring in March

There was a significant decrease in online job demand in the HR sector, led by a decline in opportunities for professionals. Growth dipped across most regions in the UK, with London registering the sharpest fall following two months of continued growth. The South East and South West fell after one and two months of growth respectively, while hiring in Northern Ireland remained stable. Year-on-year increase was 4 points, or 2%

Opportunities in the healthcare, social work sector decreased notably in March, following strong growth in February. This dip reflects reduced hiring for both technicians and associate professionals; and professionals. By contrast, demand grew for service workers and shop and market sales workers within this sector for the second month in a row. Regionally, the South West registered the biggest decline, while there was an upturn of opportunities in Northern Ireland.

Job availability in the education, training and library sector also dipped, reversing the upward trend in February. A slowing of vacancies was seen among professionals, which saw strong growth in February. Regionally, East Anglia, London and the South East saw the sharpest declines; while the Midlands and Wales each saw increases for the second consecutive month.

Contrastingly, the legal sector saw a considerable rise in online job demand, increasing by 38 Index points after two months of decline. Professionals experienced the highest demand in the sector. The South East showed the highest rate of increase, following two months of decline. London also registered a significant increase in opportunities.

Decreases in Online Demand for Craft and Related Workers; and Clerks in March

Online job availability for craft and related workers fell by 15 Index points in March, reversing two consecutive months of growth. Sharp declines were seen in the construction and extraction; and production, manufacturing, maintenance, repair sectors. Online hiring dipped in most of the regions, with the Midlands showing the sharpest decline. There was a slight increase in Northern Ireland for the second month in a row.

Hiring of clerks also went down in March, following an increase in February. The sharpest dip was in the administrative, organisation; and the sales sectors. An upturn was registered in the public sector, defence, community; and transport, post and logistics sectors for the second consecutive month. Online recruitment fell across the UK, with Scotland showing the deepest decline. Job availability also dipped considerably in North England and the South West.

In contrast, there was a rise in demand for legislators, senior officials and managers in March, for the second month in a row. Regionally, Scotland and Northern Ireland showed the highest demand. Year-on-year growth was 47 points, or 39 percent.

Online Recruitment Dips in the Majority of UK Regions

There was a downturn in online hiring across most regions in the UK in March. The most significant fall was in the Midlands, led by a sharp decline in the management and consulting sector. Job availability in the region also dipped in IT, after five months of continued increase. By contrast, the legal sector saw a recovery after two months of decline.

North England decreased as well, despite a high rate of increase in the environment, architecture and urbanism sector for the second consecutive month. Among occupational groups, job availability went down for plant and machine operators and assemblers; and clerks. There was also a sizeable dip in East Anglia in March, led by falls in demand in the administrative, organisation; healthcare, social work; and IT sectors.

Online hiring increased markedly in Scotland for the second successive month. The highest growth in hiring was in the engineering sector, as it was in February. Meanwhile, demand in the construction and extraction industry grew for the fourth straight month. Year-on-year growth was 56 points, or 40 percent.

Monster Employment Index UK data for April will be released on May 13, 2008.

About The Monster Employment Index UK

Providing a broad, comprehensive monthly analysis of online job demand, the Monster Employment Index UK is an extension of the Monster Employment Index Europe, which is compiled each month by researchers at Monster Worldwide Europe.

Launched in June 2005, the Monster Employment Index Europe provides monthly insight into recruitment trends across the European Union. The Index report is based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards across Europe, including Monster®. The Index is audited by Research America, Inc. and provides analyses of online job demand within occupational categories, industry sectors and regions.

Monthly Index reports for Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Europe are available at:

http://corporate.monster.com/Press_Room/MEI_EU.asp.