Unemployment Is Down – and Employees Wanting to Leave Their Jobs Is Up

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The unemployment rate has slowly dropped every month since November – moving from 9.8 to 8.8 percent – but the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest figures [PDF] show a big gain of 216,000 jobs in March. That’s more jobs in one month than we’ve seen since last May.

Employees are already feeling more optimistic, according to Glassdoor.com, which shares inside information about jobs and companies. Their Employment Confidence Survey [PDF] for the first quarter of 2010 shows that 40 percent of full-time, part-time, and self-employed workers believe if they lost their job, it’s “likely” they could find another one that pays the same within six months.

Glassdoor translates this optimism to mean employees won’t cling to their jobs as tightly as they did earlier in the recession. Its survey of more than 2,000 employees found that most actually expect to leave their jobs for a new one within the next three years:

  • 38 percent – in less than three years
  • 28 percent – in less than two years
  • 14 percent – in less than one year

Where are they so confidently headed?

Given the excitement over recent job growth, The eBay Classifieds Blog decided to analyze the numbers. They say that while most job opportunities today are in retail, the fastest-growing field is biomedical engineering.

They also looked at which states offer the best job opportunities. “We looked at personal income per capita, unemployment rates, and crime rates to determine which states have the most buoyant economies in this still very difficult economic climate,” one of its bloggers wrote. “We then determined the largest occupations, and the fastest growing occupations, for each state so we can see where the most jobs are found.”

The result is the nifty graphic below. And if you plan to leave your job soon, be sure to check these Money Talks News posts first:

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