Online job postings, a dagger pointing at the most lucrative business of daily newspapers, help wanted ads, is skyrocketing, according to a report by the Medill News Service.

In the past newspaper classified help wanted advertising has been considered a reliable index of overall economic health. But sites such as Monster.com, and the network of free 'Craig's list' sites in various cities have become so popular and important, a new index has been created to measure changes in jobs posted online.

Circulation revenue, the price people pay at the newsbox or for a home subscription, does not begin to cover the cost of publishing a newspaper. Advertising pays the freight. And because the typical help wanted ad is so small, but so important to the employer, help wanted advertising generates a disproportionate amount of revenue and profit for newspaper publishers.

So far, newspaper help wanted advertising has not begun to decline in absolute terms. There are still job seekers who are not online, so employers often feel the need to post their jobs on dead tree byproducts. But this is not likely to continue indefinitely.

As it has with news dissemination, so with the advertising revenue base. The internet is replacing daily newspapers rapidly.

Posted by Thomas  05 13 04