spiral upward / the demand for talents (fair ) spiraled upward / climbed drastically / soar / surge / experience an explosive growth / an acceleration / swell / manage a modest ( marginal ) gain / on the rise / on the ascendance / wane / shrink / slump / fall off / drop off / take a dip / take a nose dive / trend (tide ) / sth. continued its upward / downward trend. / reach the plateau / the bottleneck / sth. level off / sth. remains steady / stable / unchanged / constant / stay the same / There was a slight drop( fall ) between 2000 / and 2005 / hugely / sharply / dramatically / drastically / substantially / steeply / incredibly / massively / surprisingly / alarmingly / distressingly / slightly / steadily / gradually / marginally / moderately / gently / reach a ( the ) peak / the highest point / A record number
