when the help wanted index hwi is rising it means there are a relatively large amount of positions needing to be filled this can be interpreted as a shortage of workers because employers may have to raise wages to attract workers wage inflation could ensue which could have a negative effect on bond and equity markets 
created first in 1951 the index totaled the lines of help wanted classified ads from 51 leading newspapers each from a different metropolitan statistical area around the united states 1the hwi was restructured to equal 100 in 1987 and is released to the public in a monthly press release the conference board releases a national number for the hwi along with regional numbers representing nine segments of the country and a percentage number representing the proportion of the labor market with rising want ad volume the current hwi report can be found on the conference board s website the conference board is composed of a board of chairmen and trustees and its voting members most recently these positions were filled by many high ranking executives from corporations including deutsche bank bbva deere company johnson johnson monsanto mastercard general electric novartis and state farm insurance 