Within Lightcast job postings, we can measure the number of job postings over a given timeframe two different ways.
Newly Posted measures all postings that were posted in that month.Active measures how many postings were live during that month, (even if originally posted in a previous month but left active by the employer).
Active postings is a good way to get a view of the total open demand present in a given month while Newly Posted gives a better view of the behavior of the market in a given month and over time.
For example, if a company has changed their hiring practices and started posting for a new position, that change will be better observed using Newly Posted since the company’s active postings from previous months will not be included in that view–no postings from previous months “carry over” into the selected timeframe.
Generally, use cases seeking to measure market behavior over a timeframe are best served by Newly Posted while use cases seeking to measure total open market demand over a timeframe are best served by Active.