Health care and computer firms and coffee shops lead the list of Sacramento companies posting online job ads, but area job seekers continue to far outnumber ads posted by employers online, according to one employment website.

Sutter Health, Catholic Healthcare West, Starbucks and Intel posted approximately 2,000 job openings among them online in April, according to SimplyHired.com's April U.S. Employment Trends Report.

With 649 postings and 460 postings, respectively, in April, Sutter Health and CHW reported increases in job openings of 8.4 percent and 17 percent month-to-month. Starbucks also posted 460 jobs locally – up 4.5 percent from March – while Intel posted 438 positions, good for fourth, even with an 11 percent decline from March.

That echoes national trends. More openings are being posted at health care and tech companies nationwide, while retail has shown impressive growth, according to the report.

But Sacramento-area job seekers outnumber postings by a 7-1 ratio, the second-highest ratio among 25 U.S. metropolitan areas surveyed in the April SimplyHired report. Sacramento tied for second-highest with Las Vegas.

Only the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area had a higher ratio, with eight job seekers for every one posting, SimplyHired reported.

Nationally, SimplyHired marked a dramatic increase in open retail sales positions – 92 percent month-over-month and nearly 164 percent year-over-year on seasonal hiring – and greater optimism among retailers, said Daniel Greenberg, SimplyHired's chief marketing officer.

"It's a pretty clear sign on the part of businesses of their confidence in consumer spending," Greenberg said.

Accountant job openings saw similar year-over-year increases as firms resumed hiring after two years of recessionary belt-tightening. Job openings rose by more than 123 percent year-over-year.

Most surprising was growth in transportation postings even amid soaring costs for gas and oil, Greenberg said. Postings in the sector rose by 20 percent in April over March and by 123 percent year-over-year.

Still, the Sacramento region, with its dependence on struggling construction and government sectors, continues to lag behind California and the nation in economic recovery.

Some encouraging signs have emerged from the survey, however.

Sacramento online job openings rose by more than 9 percent in April over March and by more than 38 percent over April 2010 as employers are slowly regaining confidence in the economy. Nationwide, openings gained 6.7 percent in April and nearly 34 percent year-over-year.

But Greenberg, like regional employment watchers, says the Sacramento area has a ways to go to regain its footing.

"Vibrancy in the economy seems to be returning, but the volume of job increase needs to be significantly higher," Greenberg said. "The area is rebounding, but not at the same rate" as other areas of the country, he said.

SimplyHired.com pulls data from some 30,000 online job boards, newspapers and search engines, as well as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to develop a "virtual census" of job-posting activity, Greenberg said.

To view the report, visit http://blog.simplyhired.com.

State jobs workshop set

Local consultant Michelle Allen hosts a workshop May 23 on how to land a job in state government.

The free 8 a.m. workshop at Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, 1 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, will cover the state's hiring process from finding and taking examinations to getting onto state employment lists.

For more information and for reservations, call the chamber at (916) 552-6800.

Job-hunting questions?

Ask Terri Carpenter, one of our "Ask the Experts" writers, who can answer your career questions online.

A jobs expert at the Sacramento Employment & Training Agency, Carpenter has expertise in résumé writing, job-skills training and career counseling.

To post your question or to view her advice to other job seekers, go to www.sacbee.com/ask.

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Call The Bee's Darrell Smith, (916) 321-1040.

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