Overall Fortune 100 job search activity increased in the fourth quarter while middle-market activity decreased, according to Hudson’s Q4 2015 Job Seeker Pulse report, which analyzes the online job search activity of Fortune 100 and middle market company employees. However, middle market employees remained much more active than their Fortune 100 counterparts; the report attributed the middle market’s slowdown mainly to the slower December holiday season and job search activity still increased from the first and second quarters.  

Across the generations, the Fortune 100 middle management segment registered the most dramatic increase in job search behaviors in the fourth quarter. Within this segment, the millennial sub-group posted the most activity with a 92% increase over the third quarter, followed by the baby boomers with a 72% increase and the Gen Xers with a 66% increase.

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 as many as 6,000 different 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.

Monthly average J-Index:

• October: Fortune 100, 12.20: Middle market, 18.14
• November: Fortune 100, 14.41: Middle market, 20.06
• December: Fortune 100, 7.76: Middle market, 12.35

The Hudson Job Seeker Pulse study tracked fourth-quarter 2015 J-Scores for 14,452 people who were employed by Fortune 100 or middle-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. Middle-market companies are companies with between 1,000 and 10,000 employees as stated in their LinkedIn company profiles.