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1. Challenger, Gray and Christmas interviewed 3,000 job seekers across multiple industries and levels to come to its conclusions.
2. The company found that last quarter the U.S. experienced the highest job-seeker relocation rate since the second quarter of 2006.
3. From Q4 of 2007 through Q1 of 2009, the relocation rate averaged at around 11.9 percent of out-of-work employees willing to move.
4. The rate reached a record low during the first quarter of 2008, dropping to 8.9 percent.
5. Over the past six months, however, the rate has jumped from 12.6 percent to 18.2 percent.
6. "While job seekers are no less likely to lose money on the sale of their home and the job market is only marginally more stable than it was six months ago, the overwhelming desire to get back to work appears to be outweighing the perceived risks," said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement of the recent spike
7. Challenger says this recent high doesn't even compare to relocation rates of the 1980s and 1990s. For example, in 1993 the relocation rate for the year averaged 35 percent and reached a high of 49.2 percent in the second quarter.
8. Challenger believes the "phenomenal growth" in the job market and the rise of Internet telework tools has been a major contributor to the dramatic drop over the past several decades.
9. He and his firm don't expect the rate to ever reach that of previous decades, but they do foresee further growth in coming quarters.
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