Press Room

Fort Lauderdale, FL, May 31, 2006 — The likelihood of U.S. IT workers to look for a new job grew to 48 percent in the first quarter of 2006, rising from 39 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005, according to the recent quarterly IT Employment Report released today by Spherion Corporation (NYSE: SFN). 

Facing a combination of retiring baby boomers, a strong job market and increased competition from growing IT departments, employers are placing more emphasis on finding skilled workers. Given this factor, the Spherion^® Report indicated that IT workers’ feelings about their own personal job security remained strong last quarter, as 70 percent said it was unlikely that their jobs would be eliminated in the next 12 months.

“Right now, it is clearly an employee’s market for IT workers,” said Brendan Courtney, senior vice president of Spherion Professional Services. “A technology renaissance has intersected with a time in which aging boomers are exiting the workforce and moving into retirement. Thanks to the success of companies leading the latest Web 2.0 boom and an increase in IT projects, new ‘me too’ start-ups are getting funded every day and are proving to be attractive employers. Open positions being left by retiring boomers also must be filled, so you can see how the job-seeker has the clear advantage.”

IT Employee Confidence Index: The IT Employee Confidence Index was 57.1 for the first quarter of 2006, up 1.6 points from the previous quarter. During the same period, the U.S. Index increased 1.5 points to 58.3. The Index, which measures adult workers’ confidence in their personal employment situation and the macroeconomic environment, may have increased because of a candidate-driven shift in the job market due to a combination of a growing IT sector and positions being left by retiring boomers.

About the Spherion Employment Report
As part of the Spherion^® Emerging Workforce^® Series of employment surveys, the quarterly Spherion Information Technology Employment Report provides a snapshot of the latest workforce trends among information technology professionals across the country. 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 that measures employees’ overall confidence in the economy, their employer and their ability to find other employment. The Employee Confidence Index is calculated from the results of four components that reflect these aspects of employee confidence. For each component item a ‘score’ is calculated 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 and is scaled from 0 (no confidence) to 100 (complete confidence). A reading above 50 indicates a positive confidence level.

Methodology
The 2006 Spherion^® IT Employment Report is based on data from a Harris Interactive^® online survey conducted on behalf of Spherion Corporation. A U.S. sample of 9,123 employed adults, aged 18 years and older, of whom 571 work in information technology positions, was interviewed in a series of polls conducted between January 3-5, January 10-12, February 7-9, February 14-16, March 8-10 and March 14-16, 2006. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, education and region were weighted where it is necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting adjusted for respondents’ propensity to be online. In theory, with probability samples of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results for the overall sample have a sampling error of plus or minus 1 percentage point. Sampling error for the results of employed adults who work in information technology positions (n=571) is plus or minus 4 percentage points. The online samples are not probability samples.

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 more than 650 offices 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.

About Harris Interactive®
Harris Interactive is the 13th 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.