The Conference Board says this morning that the number of online employment ads declined this month compared with the level in March 2007. That was the first year-over-year decline since the organization began tracking online ads in 2005. Online employment ads have grown like topsy in the last decade in The Sun, CareerBuilder and Monster. That they seem to be topping out says something about the maturity of the market. But it also says something about the economy. Employers who are laying off workers or hiring less buy fewer help-wanted ads.

“The softening in advertised vacancies evident over the last few months spread to more states in March and, for the first time, annual growth turned negative for the nation as a whole,” said Gad Levanon, Economist at The Conference Board. “It would not be surprising to see a third straight month of job losses when employment data are released later this week as well as continued weakness in the months ahead. The weak demand for labor and a soft employment market help explain the significant decline in the Consumer Confidence Index released last week, which dropped to 64.5, its lowest level since 2003.”