While the headlines might lead you to think mainstream media is hemorrhaging jobs, May might just be one of the most robust months yet for job availability. Moster.com released its May Employment Index yesterday and the media sector was an all around winner with one media centric categroy showing a whopping 22% increase from May of 2006. Here at mediabistro, we follow two key numbers from the Monster Index . . .

The first is for the "Information" industry. This index captures a broad range of mainstream media business. According to the Monster Index, online job availability in May for workers in the information industry rose 7% from April, and 6% from May of 2006. Prior to May, the index had been running about 2% lower than the same period in 2006, so that's quite a turn around.

The other index we watch is for "Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media" occupations which captures a broad range of what people in the media sector actually do (apparently when they are not reading blogs on mediabistro). According to the Monster Index, online job availability in May for workers in these occupations rose more than 2% from April, and a whopping 22% from May of 2006.