April Jobs data from LinkUp.com echoes the jobs data from the Department of Labor earlier this month: The number of total job posting is down slightly from March and most states are experiencing weakness. LinkUp data shows the number of jobs listed directly on corporate web sites and reports both the number of new, unique jobs posted as well as the total number of jobs posted during the month.

In April, company web sites listed a total of 806,538 job openings, down slightly from 827,353 in March. Of those listings, 542,056 were new job jobs, up slightly from 523,498 new jobs posted in March. A surprisingly high number of states (38) reported a decline in total jobs listed, while only a few states (12) reported an increase in total job openings. Removing California's numbers (growth of 43,000 new jobs and an increase of 42,000 total jobs listed) paints an even worse picture of what is happening around the country.

LinkUp.com aggregates job listings that employers post on their own corporate web site. These job listings or openings are often not advertised anywhere else on the web or in print. As well, the aggregated data, pulled from 8,385 companies of all sizes and in all industries throughout the U.S., does not include any duplicate job listings. But while the data presents a high-quality, unique, and relevant snapshot of the nation's employment picture, it is not meant to represent the exact number of job openings in any given state. The vast majority of companies in the U.S. do not list their job openings on their company web site, if they even have a corporate web site, and LinkUp is still accumulating data from new companies being included in the data set. (The percentage declines from March to April might be slightly understated since the April numbers listed in the chart above include data from more companies than the March numbers). In any event, the LinkUp numbers provide further evidence that the employment market is pretty grim.

Article by Toby Dayton and courtesy of Diggings, a blog about recruitment advertising, media, publishing, HR, work, & technology, among other things.