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FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Spherion Employee Confidence Index dropped to a new low in October, decreasing 5.8 points to 41.5. The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Spherion Corporation (NYSE: SFN) measures U.S. workers' confidence in their personal employment situation and optimism in the macroeconomic environment. The Index revealed that workers' optimism in the economy and job market decreased, as did their confidence in their ability to find a new job. Conversely, the Index showed that workers' sentiment increased in at least one area: confidence in their employer's future. Specifically, sixty-five percent of workers are confident in the future of their employer, up two percentage points from the September report.

Interestingly, job security remains high with almost three-quarters (74 percent) of workers saying they believe they are unlikely to lose their jobs in the next 12 months. Workers are, however, less likely to look for a new job in the next year, with 31 percent reporting that they are likely to do so.

"We are beginning to see the full effects of how the recent financial fallout is affecting worker confidence. The U.S. job market has been shaken, so it is not surprising that workers are feeling less optimistic about the strength of the economy and the availability of jobs," said Roy Krause, president and CEO of Spherion Corporation. "The good news is that the effects of the economic slowdown will not be experienced uniformly, as opportunities still exist for displaced job seekers in certain pockets of the country and in certain industries. Sectors such as education, accounting, healthcare, government and legal services should remain strong throughout this downturn. We are advising our candidates to be flexible in their job searches and to use their translatable skills to pursue career opportunities outside of their current industry."

Results from the October Spherion Employment Report:

Employee Confidence Hits a New Low: The Spherion Employee Confidence Index dropped to a new survey low in October, decreasing 5.8 points to 41.5. The Index, which measures workers' confidence in their personal employment situation and optimism in the macroeconomic environment, reveals that fewer workers are optimistic about the strength of the economy, the number of jobs available and their own ability to find new positions. At the same time, the number of workers reporting confidence in the future of their employer increased slightly.

  Details of the Index:

  Macroeconomic Confidence:

-- Four percent of workers believe the economy is getting stronger, decreasing seven percentage points from September. In addition, 77 percent reported that the economy is getting weaker compared to 64 percent in the previous month.

-- Seven percent of U.S. adult workers believe there are more jobs available, a decrease of five percentage points from the previous month.

Personal Confidence:

-- Sixty-five percent of U.S. adult workers feel confident in the future of their current employer, a two percentage point increase from September.

-- The percentage of U.S. adult workers confident in their ability to find a new job decreased seven percentage points from September to 41 percent.

Job Security: Close to Three-quarters of Workers Say it is Unlikely They Will Lose Their Job

-- Seventy-four percent of U.S. workers say it is unlikely they will lose their jobs in the next 12 months, down two percentage points from September.

Job Transition: Percentage of Workers Likely to Look for a New Job Drops

-- Thirty-one percent of workers are likely to look for a new job in the next twelve months, a decrease of five percentage points from September.

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 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, with each score ranking on a scale from 0 (no confidence) to 100 (complete confidence). A reading above 50 indicates a positive confidence level.

Methodology

This October 2008 Spherion Employment Tracker was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Spherion Corporation between October 7-9 and 15-17, 2008 among a U.S. sample of 2,960 employed adults, aged 18 years and older (September 2008 n=2,8624). Results were weighted as needed for age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, education and region. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the U.S. adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to be invited to participate in the Harris Interactive online research panel, no estimates of 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 more than 60 years, Spherion has sourced, screened and placed millions of individuals in temporary, temp-to-hire and full-time jobs.

With approximately 700 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 more than 300,000 people annually through its network, Spherion is one of North America's largest employers. Spherion operates under the following brands: Spherion Staffing Services Group for administrative, clerical and light industrial workers; Technisource for technology professionals and solutions; The Mergis Group for accounting and finance and other professional positions; Todays Office Professionals for specialty administrative personnel; and Spherion Recruitment Process Outsourcing. To learn more, visit http://www.spherion.com/.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research that is powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit http://www.harrisinteractive.com/.

SOURCE: Spherion Corporation

CONTACT: Kip Havel, Spherion Corporation, 1-800-422-3819,
kiphavel@spherion.com

Web site: http://www.spherion.com/