Jobs could be a little harder to come by in the early going of 2013, according to the results of the Conference Board of Canada’s latest Help-Wanted Index survey.

The Ottawa-based think tank said today that Manitoba and almost every other province saw a decline in their help-wanted index in the final month of 2012. A falling index usually points to a tougher job market in the next few months.

The board said Manitoba’s index fell 2.6 points in December, which was a slightly bigger drop than the national average decline of 2.4 points. It was the sixth time in 2012 that Manitoba’s index fell from one month to the next, the board added.

The only two provinces that didn’t see a decline in December were Quebec and New Brunswick, which posted increases of 4.6 points and 1.1 points respectively.

The Conference Board’s Help-Wanted Index is based on the seasonally adjusted number of new, unduplicated jobs posted online during the month across 79 Canadian job-posting websites.

The board said that based on Canada’s December index movement, the Canadian economy likely lost about 16,000 jobs in January.

"Still, the projected loss follows the creation of nearly 100,000 jobs over the last two months of 2012," it added.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca