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California Employment Report: Employee Confidence Index Drops As Fewer Workers Are Confident in Their Personal Employment Situation

LOS ANGELES, Calif., March 23, 2007 – The California Employee Confidence Index dropped 1.5 points in February to 61.5, according to the latest Spherion® Employment Report. This recent survey of California workers, conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Spherion Corporation (NYSE:SFN), shows that fewer workers are confident in their ability to find a new job and in the future of their current employer. The survey also found that more workers were likely to look for a new job in the next year.

Results from the California Employment Report:

  • Forty-eight percent of workers believe that the economy is remaining steady, an increase of 10 percentage points from January.

  • Sixty-one percent of employees are confident in their ability to find a new job, a seven percentage point drop from last month.

  • The percentage of workers confident in the future of their current employer decreased by four percentage points to 65 percent in February.

  • Thirty-seven percent of workers say they are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months, an increase of six percentage points from the previous month. 

“After rising to a new high in January, we saw the percentage of workers confident in California drop last month as fewer have confidence in their personal job situations,” explained Lauren Steel, territory vice president for Spherion. “This is somewhat surprising because workers of all skills and levels are in high demand, especially in the major metropolitan areas across the state. In fact, we’ve started to notice a new hiring trend which emphasizes the talent shortages that employers are currently facing. Companies are now looking to use specialized contract workers to fill their open positions that would have traditionally been staffed by full-time workers. It’s certainly an option we recommend when full-time talent isn’t available and critical business needs must be attended to.”  

  California Workers U.S.  Workers
  Jan  Feb  % Point Change  Jan  Feb  % Point Change 
Economy Getting Stronger 26%  21%  -5  24%  24% 
Staying Same 38%  48%  +10  42%  42% 
Getting Weaker 36%  31%  -5  34%  34% 
Job Availability More Jobs 29%  28%  -1  28%  28% 
Same Amount 40%  42%  +2  37%  37%  0
Fewer Jobs 31%  30%  -1  35%  35% 
Ability to Find New Job Confident 68%  61%  -7  60%  60% 
Neutral 23%  27%  +4  27%  27% 
Not Confident 10%  13%  +3  13%  13% 
Future of Current Employer Confident 69%  65%  -4  66%  65%  -1 
Neutral 19%  26%  +7  22%  22%
Not Confident 12%  10%
-2  12%  13%
+1
Likelihood to Lose Job Likely 11%  10%
-1
11%  10%
-1 
Neutral 10%  16%
+6
10%  10%
Not Likely 79%
74%  -5
79%
80%
+1
Likelihood to Look for New Job Likely 31%
37%
+6
35%
36%
+1
Neutral 12%
07%
-5
12%
10%
-2
Not Likely 58%
56%
-2
54%
54%
0

About the Spherion Employment Report

As part of the Spherion® Emerging Workforce® Series of employment surveys, the monthly Spherion Employment Report provides a snapshot of the latest workforce trends across the country and is issued in conjunction with state and national labor market releases. Three key indices are measured: the Spherion Job Security Index, which captures how likely respondents think it is that they will lose their job or that their job will be eliminated in the next 12 months; the Spherion Job Transition Index, which captures how likely respondents are to look for a new job in the next 12 months; and the Employee Confidence Index, which measures employees’ overall confidence in the economy, the future of their employer, the availability of jobs, and their ability to find other employment. The Employee Confidence Index is based on these four components, with a ‘score’ calculated for each by taking the difference of the percentage of positive responses and the percentage of negative responses. These four scores are then averaged to indicate an overall level of employee confidence scaled from 0 (no confidence) to 100 (complete confidence). A reading above 50 indicates a positive confidence level.

Methodology

The February 2007 Spherion® Employment Report is based on data from a Harris Interactive® QuickQuerySM online omnibusconducted on behalf of Spherion Corporation. A U.S. sample of 4,022 employed adults, aged 18 years and older, of whom 304 are employed in California (for January 2007 n=386), was interviewed in a series of two polls conducted between February 5 and 7 and February 12 and 14, 2007. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, education and region were weighted where it is necessary to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting adjusted for respondents’ propensity to be online.

 

With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 4,022 U.S. employed adults one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results would have a sampling error of +/- two percentage points, and the sampling error for the California state sample results would be +/- six percentage points. However, that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

 

About Spherion
Spherion Corporation (NYSE:SFN) is a leading recruiting and staffing company that provides integrated solutions to meet the evolving needs of companies and job candidates. As an industry pioneer for 60 years, Spherion has screened and placed millions of individuals in temporary
temp-to-hire and full-time jobs. Positions range from administrative and
light industrial to a host of professions that include accounting/finance, information technology, engineering, manufacturing, legal, human
resources and sales/marketing.

With approximately 650 locations in the United States and Canada, Spherion delivers innovative workforce solutions that improve business performance. Spherion provides its services to more than 8,000 customers, from Fortune 500 companies to a wide range of small and mid-size organizations. Employing 375,000 people annually through its network, Spherion is one of North America’s largest employers. To learn more, visit www.spherion.com.For up-to-date career tips and trends, visit Spherion’s career blog, The Big TimeSM, at www.spherion.com/careerblog.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is the 12th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world. The company provides research-driven insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what could conceivably be the world’s largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiary Novatris in France and through a global network of independent market research firms. The service bureau, HISB, provides its market research industry clients with mixed-mode data collection, panel development services as well as syndicated and tracking research consultation. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com.

 

To become a member of the Harris Poll Online, visit www.harrispollonline.com.

 

CA-Employment-Report-Feb07-PDF
Click here for a PDF of the Report (96 KB)

 

Media Contact

Lesly Cardec

954.308.6302

 

leslycardec@sfngroup.com

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