With the number of people in employment in the U.S. surging after big declines earlier this year, new figures suggest that the number of top-end opportunities are also booming as the $100,000+ arena becoming a job-seeker's market.
That's according to data collated by TheLadders.com, a website specializing in $100,000+ jobs.
Their Quarterly Executive Job Market Trends Report for Q207 has found that the ratio of active job seekers to high-end job openings has decreased across much of the U.S., creating a job-seeker's market.
The boom in top-end jobs comes on the heels of official figures revealing that overall nonfarm payroll employment increased last month by 157,000.
"The $100k+ job market is continuing to see strength in hiring activity even during fluctuations in the economy," said Marc Cenedella, president and CEO of TheLadders.com.
"That is a clear signal of stability within the executive arena."
The report found that the hottest top-end job markets are in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and Seattle, with New York also attracting the highest number of job-seekers from other parts of the country thanks in part to a ratio of job-seekers to job postings of just three-to-one.
Among the firms doing the most high-end hiring in New York are Johnson & Johnson, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Avaya and Citigroup, the report found.
With New York taking the accolade as the ultimate land of opportunity for job seekers, the survey also found that three-quarters of respondents said they'd leave their current cities for the right out-of-town assignment.
On the west coast, meanwhile, growth is particularly marked in the technology and telecom sectors as companies such as Sun Microsystems, Kyocera Wireless, Yahoo!, Google and eBay look to increase their management ranks in San Francisco and San Diego.
In contrast, the tightest markets in the U.S. are Tampa and Detroit, with neither receiving much attention from out-of-state job searches and stiff competition for every available opening.