oDesk, today announced findings from the January “Online Employment Report,” a monthly analysis on the state of the online workforce, including in-demand skills, growth in jobs and upcoming workforce trends.

According to the report, small towns are outperforming their big-city counterparts in online work activity and number of hours worked per contractor. Small towns (populations <15,000) are matching large cities in number of online workers per capita, and have proportionally higher "actively working" online populations. In comparing the hours worked per online contractor, small towns like Kanab (UT), Wagoner (OK), and Newalla (OK) surpass New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Overall, demand for online work reached an all-time high in January, maintaining over 90% growth year-over-year and outstripping the slow hiring growth in local jobs.

Small Towns Go Big Online: Kanab, Wagoner and Newalla work more than cities 10X their size
• Small towns meet or beat large cities in the number of online workers per capita
• More than 175 hours per contractor on average in key small towns
• Outperforming average online workers' hours worked in NYC (70 hours), San Francisco (54 hours) and Los Angeles (23 hours)
2011 Starts Strong for Online Hiring
• A record 71,000 online job opportunities posted
• More than $13M was spent on online work in January alone
Voice Talent and Presentations break into the Top 50 in-demand categories
• Businesses hiring creative talent

Workers in small towns need access to jobs, and the Internet can put them in consideration for job opportunities on a global scale,” said Gary Swart, oDesk CEO. “Online jobs are giving workers a viable way to find employment, enhance their skills and build their own businesses -- beyond their local economy.”