Overall Fortune 100 and middle-market job search activity increased in the first quarter, according to Hudson’s Q1 2016 Job Seeker Pulse report, which analyzes the online job search activity of Fortune 100 and middle-market company employees. However, the report found when comparing both market segments in aggregate, the middle market was much more active.

Across the generations, the Generation X and Baby Boomer groups registered notable activity rises compared to the first quarter of last year, particularly among entry level employees. Throughout 2015, these generational groups on average exercised more job-switching caution than their younger Gen Y counterparts.

Entry-level Generation X employees posted the biggest year-over year job-search activity increases, up 50.5% for Fortune 100 employees and 28% for middle market. 

The largest year-over-year decrease for Fortune 100 job search activity came from Generation X mid-management, down 6.9%. Generation Y mid-management posted the largest decrease for middle market, down 6.5%.

The study is based on data gleaned from the Joberate platform, which monitors an individual’s digital footprint to establish job-seeking activity. It tracks up to 6,000 data points from publicly available data sources including social media, public job boards and sources licensed by authorized data service providers like Twitter’s GNIP. The “J-Score” represents an individual score and the “J-Index” represents an aggregate score.

Average J-Indices for first-quarter 2016 compare to the same quarter in the prior year:

• Overall: 10.68, up 5.3% from 10.14
• Fortune 100: 8.93, up 2.9% from 8.70
• Mid-market: 12.68, up 8% from 11.74

The Hudson Job Seeker Pulse study tracked first-quarter 2016 J-Scores for 15,692 people who were employed by Fortune 100 or mid-market companies. Fortune 100 companies are the 100 largest public and private US companies according to gross revenue figures, as published annually by Fortune magazine. Mid-market companies have between 1,000 and 10,000 employees as stated in their LinkedIn company profiles.