This morning, I posted the results of a poll I ran at the Search Engine Roundtable asking SEMs if they are currently employed. We received just about 400 responses, and from those responses we learned there is a 7% unemployment rate in the search marketing industry. The poll was far from a valid study, such as a census data report, but it did poll many from the industry and might be a good metric to use.

The current US unemployment rate, according to the March 2009 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data is about 9%. The search marketing industry is 2 points below that rate according to my small poll. What I found most interesting is that 25% of the respondents said they were self-employed while 65% said they worked for a company.

Again, this poll is far from having US backed data from the labor department, but it may be a good indication of the search marketing industry is weathering the recession.

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | SEM Industry: General | SEM Industry: Stats

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz

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