Job demand keeps ratcheting down.

• Position: Business Briefs - Brief Article

Anyone testing the job waters has a pretty good idea how tough things are out there--and research confirms it. ExecuNet.com, an online career services center for executives and recruiters, reported that its Executive Talent Demand Index (ETDI) decreased 15 percent in the third quarter of 2002 from the year-earlier period. That's on top of earlier quarterly declines of 26 percent and 19 percent in the first and second quarter, respectively.

Finance remained among the hardest-hit areas, down 25 percent from a year ago--though it fared better than consulting, which fell 47 percent. Other struggling areas: high-tech (off 33 percent); MIS/IT (down 21 percent), human resources (off 14 percent); and operations management (off 13 percent).

The outlook actually approved in the retail sector, where employment climbed 10 percent in the third...