COLUMBUS, Ohio – Central Ohio employers were looking for more workers at the first of the year than a year earlier, but the number of online help-wanted ads in the Columbus area dropped from the level seen just before the Christmas holiday shopping season.

More than 35,900 job openings were posted online from Dec. 14 through Jan. 13, according to the Conference Board.

That represented a decrease of 2,928 ads from the previous reporting period for Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Knox, Licking, Logan, Madison, Marion, Morrow, Pickaway and Union counties but an increase of 6,001 ads over the same period one year earlier.

The data is not seasonally adjusted.