Local media - 1300 local newspapers, 1500 websites, plus a multitude of niche publications and magazines - continues to be the dominant communications platform for both active job seekers and browsers across the UK. The wanted ads Jobs is the fourth in a series of specific category studies conducted on our behalf by Continental Research. The UK-wide quantitative research project provides a comprehensive summary of the attitudes and behaviour of both active job seekers and browsers.

To provide an insight into the generall attitudes towards job and the impact of the tough economic climate.

With a robust sample of over 2,000 adults aged 16-65 who are either actively searching for or will browse for a job, the wanted ads Jobs provides fresh insights into: general attitudes towards jobs; the impact of the tough economic climate; the relevance of available communication channels; on-line usage for job-seeking; and a comparison in the specific benefits of communication channels in the seeking/browsing process.

Local media websites (39 per cent) are four times more popular as the first port of call for online job seekers than Monster (eight per cent) which was the most popular pure play recruitment site in the wanted ads Jobs study. Nearly twice as many respondents turn first to local media (33 per cent) than Jobcentre Plus (18 per cent), the second most popular source, when they are looking for a job. Local media performs even more strongly when looking just at public sector recruitment advertising.

These findings provide compelling evidence that, particularly in the public sector, local media's unique connection with audiences cannot be replicated by online portals or pure play websites. Local newspapers and their websites are the most popular source for job seekers looking for public or private sector employment, according to a Continental Research study commissioned by the NS