Who searches for the keyword “unemployment”

Term: “Unemployment” Share of Clicks Following Search Index
Age of Head of Household
18-24 4.2% 118
25-34 23.5% 126
35-44 24.4% 86
45-54 26.5% 96
55-64 14.4% 101
65+ 7.1% 90
Household Income
<$25k 12.2% 130
$25-49k 23.5% 123
$50-74k 26.2% 97
$75-99k 14.4% 81
$100k+ 23.7% 89
Search Engine
Google Search 60.8% 87
Yahoo! Search 23.3% 121
MSN-Windows Live Search 10.0% 172
AOL Search 2.3% 76
Ask.com Search 3.6% 156
Source: comScore

Online job postings down 23% in December/January 2009

Online advertised vacancies declined 506,000 to 3,355,000 in January 2009, according to The Conference Board. The January 2009 loss, combined with a similar sharp drop of 507,000 in December 2008, results in a decline of over 1 mln advertised vacancies, or 23%, in the last two months. The highest Supply/Demand rate is in Michigan (6.45), or over 6 unemployed people for every advertised vacancy. Other states where there are over 4 unemployed for every advertised vacancy include Mississippi (5.04), Indiana (4.78), Kentucky (4.72), North Carolina (4.31), Georgia (4.24), Florida (4.20), South Carolina (4.05), and California (4.03)

IT salaries up 4.6% in 2008

An average IT employee made $78,035 in 2008, a 4.6% increase from 2007, according to Dice.com. Security analysts got the biggest raises in 2008, with an average salary increase of 8.4% to $86,778. Software engineers were next, with an increase of 7% to $90,031. Application developers got a 6.6% raise to $84,672.

60.6% of companies plan to cut their bonuses

60.6% of companies plan a reduction in salary merit increases (from 3.6% to 2.2% on average). 45.3% of companies expect bonuses for 2008 (for payout in 2009) to be lower by as much as 20% to 25%. 19.5% of companies are considering salary freezes. 31.6% of companies are currently considering hiring freezes, Empsight says.

24% of employed Americans have been with their current employer for less than 1 year

24% of employed adults has been with their current employer for less than one year. A similar number (26%) have been with the same employer for 10 years or more. A little more than half (54%) have been with their current company for fewer than five years; another fifth (21%) have been with the same company for 5-9 years. Additionally, in 2006, employed Americans ages 25 and older averaged 4.9 years with their current employer, according to the Labor Department, according to Pew Internet Project

81% of employed Americans have an e-mail account

Among those who are employed, 96% are in some way making use of new communications technologies- either by going online, using email or owning a cell phone. This group includes employed respondents who are either internet users (86%), have a cell phone (89%) or an email account (81%). Additionally, some 73% of workers use all three basic tools of the information age: they use the internet, have an email account, and have a cell phone, according to Pew Internet Project.

24% of employed Americans work overtime

Significant numbers of Americans are working longer hours than the traditional 40-hour work week. Some 39% of workers say they put in more than 40 hours a week, compared with 31% who say they usually work 40 hours a week and 28% who say they work part time. 24% of employed Americans – the majority of Americans who work overtime – work between 40 and 50 hours a week. Some 15% of working Americans work more than 50 hours a week; similarly, only 15% work fewer than 25 hours a week, according to Pew Internet Project.

Certain work environments linked to longer work hours

  Less than
40 hours
40 hours 41-50
hours
Over 50
hours
All Adults 28% 31% 24% 15%
Worker income
Less than $30,000 50 30 11 7
$30,000-$49,999 20 43 25 11
$50,000-$74,999 16 27 36 21
$75,000 or more 14 22 34 30
Supervision
Supervise other workers 17 30 29 22
Do not supervise anyone 36 32 20 11
Work at home
Work at home frequently 27 18 27 27
Work at home sometimes 20 31 30 19
Never work at home 31 38 21 8
Team work in past month
No team work 36 30 20 12
Worked with one team 33 40 19 7
Worked with 2-4 teams 20 32 30 18
Worked with 5 or more
teams
14 22 33 31
Source: Pew Internet Project

80% of Americans think technologies have improved their ability to do their job

While working Americans largely hold positive views about the role of information and communications technology in their lives: 80% say these technologies have improved their ability to do their job; 73% say these technologies have improved their ability to share ideas with coworkers; 58% say these tools have allowed them more flexibility in the hours they work, according to Pew Internet Project.

18-29-year-olds are significantly more likely to work less than 25 hours per week

Employed 18-29 year-olds (23%) are significantly more likely to work 25 hours or less per week when compared with 30-49 year-olds (11%) and 50-64 year-olds (13%). Employed Americans in the middle age groups are significantly more likely, on the other hand, to work 41-50 hours a week. As noted in the table below, those earning higher incomes also tend to work longer hours, according to Pew Internet Project.

Editor salaries increased 15.2% in 2008

Although companies have devoted nearly the same number of staff to custom publishing initiatives in 2005-2008, the trend is up 51% since 2000, according to Custom Publishing Council (CPC). Communication and editorial titles had compensation increases of 3.4% and 15.2%, respectively, while design titles dropped 3.7%. There was an overall increase of 7.7% over 2007.

58% of employed Americans have been working for their current employer for less than 7 years

Fully 58% of job-holding Americans have been working for their current employer for fewer than seven years and 30% have been working for that employer for two years or fewer; compared with 42% of employed respondents who have been with their current employer for eight or more years and 20% who have been with their employer for 16 years or more. Many working Americans also have little tenure in their current positions at their place of employment. Fully 39% of employed Americans started their current position within the past two years. This number is significantly more, than the number who have been in their current position for 3-7 years (29%). Just 18% have been with their current position for 8-15 years and only 13% have been in the same position for 16 years or more, according to Pew Internet Project.

22% of supervisors work over 50 hours a week

Among those employed Americans who supervise others, 29% work 41-50 hours a week and 22% work over 50 hours a week- considerably more than those who do not supervise anyone (20% and 11% respectively). Respondents who work at home frequently (27%) or sometimes (19%) are also significantly more likely to work over 50 hours a week than those who never work at home (8%), according to Pew Internet Project.

42% of workers supervise other employees at work daily

Fully 87% of employed Americans have at least one person at work, and the majority of workers are overseen by only one or two supervisors. 46% of employed respondents report to only one person, 23% of respondents report to two people at work. 18% of employed Americans report to three or more people. 11% of employed respondents do not report to anyone at all. Some 42% of workers supervise other employees at work daily. About 84% of those who supervise other employees also report to at least one supervisor themselves. 36% of Americans say that the employees they supervise also supervise other employees. Nearly 74% of multi-level supervisors use the internet at least several times a day at work while only about 54% of single-level supervisors use the internet as often at work, according to Pew Internet Project

42% of self-employed Americans are satisfied with their jobs

Self-employed respondents are significantly more likely than those who work for someone else to be completely satisfied with their jobs; 42% of self-employed Americans are completely satisfied with their jobs compared with 31% of non-self-employed who are equally satisfied. Respondents also find some occupations more satisfying than others. 94% of managers and business owners are satisfied (mostly or completely) with their jobs, notably more than the 86% of service workers and 80% of skilled-trade workers who are satisfied with their jobs. Also, 93% of professionals and 90% of clerical workers are satisfied with their jobs – significantly more than the percentage of skilled-trade workers who are satisfied at work.Job satisfaction may also be related to teamwork, according to Pew Internet Project.

16% of Americans are self-employed

Among those employed, 16% are self-employed and 84% work for someone else. Close to one in three (30% of employed Americans) work for large corporations, and 28% work for small businesses. The remaining 39% of employed Americans work for medium-sized companies, for the government, in educational institutions, or in the non-profit sector, according to Pew Internet Project.

Americans who own desktops/laptops/PDAs by their job function

Work environment   Desktop Laptop Blackberry or
other PDA
Work longer
hours
Over 50 hours a week 79% 67% 32%
  41-50 hours 79 57 20
  40 hours 75 45 15
  Less than 40 hours 76 40 17
Work from home Frequently 78 61 27
  Sometimes 83 64 29
  Never 74 40 13
Supervise others Yes 82 57 25
  No 73 45 15
Work with teams 5 or more teams 79 68 30
  2-4 teams 82 59 25
  None 71 35 17
Source: Pew Internet Project

23% of employed US professionals work over 50 hours a week

Managers and professionals are much more likely to work over 40 hours per week than employees in other job categories. 23% of professionals work over 50 hours a week, significantly more than the proportion of clerical workers (10%), service workers (6%) or skilled workers (14%) who put in work weeks that long. The cohort of managers and business owners who work over 50 hours a week (24%) is also significantly more than clerical and service workers who work the same hours. Additionally, 36% of managers and business owners work 41-50 hours a week, significantly more than professionals (24%), clerks (21%) and service workers (14%) who work those hours, according to Pew Internet Project.

98% of employed Americans making over $75,000 a year are satisfied with their jobs

Fully 98% of employed Americans making over $75,000 a year are satisfied with their jobs, significantly more than any other income group. Fully 38% of those in the highest earning bracket say they are completely satisfied with their jobs, and 61% say they are mostly satisfied. That compares with just 31% of those earning less than $30,000 per year who are completely satisfied, and 57% who are mostly satisfied, according to Pew Internet Project.