A couple weeks ago, I ran a poll asking do you currently have a job. We have just under 400 responses, which I would consider a great sampling, and I wanted to share those results with you.

According to our survey, 7% of search marketers are out of a job and consider themselves unemployed. The current unemployment rate is 9%, so it looks like the SEM space is a bit better off, but not all that much better off.

65% of the respondents said they are an employee of a company, while 25% said they are self-employed. 7% said they are currently unemployed and 2% answered “other.” The other responses included:

Employee and Self EmployedRetired at a startup working for equity…no pay yetBoth Employee and Self-Employedyes – employee, i also do web development and graphic designyes, employee, but barely. layoffs keep coming. kind of scard.Was employed, quit, now self-employed and better offFreelance but looking for permanent

I was kind of hoping the responses would be a bit more encouraging in this industry. I was hoping to see closer to 4 or 5%. Why? Well, in this industry, even if you are out of a job, many can do begin their own job, work for themselves and put together a livable income. The 25% figure for those who are self-employed seemed high to me, but not high for this industry. Last figure I saw was from 2007, where the overall US self-employment rate was at just under 9%.

Do you think the figures above, i.e. 7% unemployment in the search marketing industry, sounds right? Do these numbers shock you in any way?

Forum discussion continued at Search Engine Watch Forums.