eQuest Releases Employment Index Results for August, 2011

SAN RAMON, CA--(Marketwire - Sep 29, 2011) - eQuest today announced its employment findings for August, 2011 as published in its Employment Index.

In the United States, the eQuest employment index remained relatively flat for the month of August, moving only to 101.34 from 101.17 with both position and candidate flow remaining level. This movement is consistent with prior summer hiring patterns and in line with other current employment indicators. These numbers also show the continued conservative and cautious hiring patterns companies have been utilizing through the current year.

The number of new job requisitions was spread across a wide span of industries in the US demonstrating continued consistency of minimal growth from July. The Biotechnology industry again topped the industry index list in August, but consulting and healthcare posted the biggest overall gains for the month. Production and manufacturing-based industries continue to occupy the bottom of the Employment Index driven by a continued lack of a significant number of new positions being added to the marketplace. Geographically, states with the highest hiring demand in August were Idaho, Maryland and New Mexico while Missouri, Mississippi and Alabama had the lowest demand for employees.

"While the summer months are traditionally limited by the lack of new positions the trend in the Index seems to currently be driven by overall cautious hiring patterns," said Sean Luitjens, SVP of Metrics & Consulting for eQuest. "Even with many companies growing the profit line, the current economic situation is causing organizations taking a critical look at every open position. For this reason we expect the Index to continue creeping slowly upward over the next quarter."

About eQuest

eQuest is the global leader in job posting delivery and talent marketing services, including candidate sourcing and interactive marketing metrics, digital media planning, consulting, and global job marketing. Thousands of job boards, social networks and websites are supported in the eQuest network, which spans over 180 countries and territories worldwide. eQuest is one of the most recognized and admired brands in the human resource industry. eQuest can be reached at www.equest.com.