what is the help wanted index 
the conference board s help wanted index hwi measures how efficiently employers are matching jobs to the available workforce the unemployed and is an important gauge on the economy 1the conference board looking for a way to augment the portfolio of employment statistics created the help wanted advertising index in 1951 1 the most obvious contribution made by the hwi is its measure of the changes in employment demand as represented on the classified pages of newspapers which is considered a leading indicator of unemployment the arguably more meaningful contribution is the hwi s indirect measure of the slack in the job market that is how many jobs are going unfilled or how efficient the job matching process is understanding the help wanted index hwi 