The number of Hawai'i Internet help-wanted advertisements in December outnumbered the number of unemployed people here, according to the latest review of Internet job classifieds by the Conference Board.

The New York-based business research group found there were 0.77 unemployed people in the state for every online job ad. That ratio was the lowest among states and compared to the national average of 1.94 jobless people for every ad.

The Conference Board compared unemployment data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics against the number of online want ads to come up with the ranking. Hawai'i's labor market has been tight after a several-year economic boom that has shrunk unemployment rolls. In December joblessness dropped to its lowest level in 30 years as statewide unemployment dipped to 2 percent.

Hawai'i's experience contrasted with other states where unemployed people looking for work significantly exceeded the level of online advertisements, the group said.

This included Mississippi, where there were 6.45 jobless people for every ad. In Michigan the ratio was 5.09.

The Conference Board Help-Wanted Online Data Series also tallies unduplicated online advertised job vacancies for the country and individual states. It found there were 13,400 Internet job advertisements for Hawai'i in January, or 16.3 percent more than a year earlier.

Included in that number were new job postings that hadn't been advertised in December.

For Hawai'i, the number of new job ads appearing in January totaled 8,700.

That was about one-fifth greater than the state's new job ad count in January 2006, the Conference Board said.