Employee Confidence Index Edges Up
November 7, 2010 – The SFN Group Employee Confidence Index increased 1.4 points to 50.1 in October. The index, which measures workers' confidence in their personal employment situation and optimism in the economic environment, shows that 40 percent of workers believe the economy is getting weaker and 60 percent believe that there are fewer jobs available. Twenty-one percent of U.S. workers believe the economy is getting stronger, an increase of two percentage points from September. The study also found that nearly three-fourths (71 percent) of workers report that they are unlikely to lose their jobs in the next 12 months. “Much of the uncertainty for U.S. workers could be attributed to their exposure to some of the declining economic indicators, including the high unemployment level seen over the last year and a half,” said William Grubbs, executive vice president and COO of SFN Group. “However, a very different picture appears when considering predictive indicators, such as the temporary help services sector, consistently delivering monthly sequential increases over the last year and up 23.1 percent year-over-year — adding more than 451,000 jobs in the last 13 months.”