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California Employment Report: Employee Confidence Index Up 0.3 Points in March

LOS ANGELES, Calif., April 17, 2009 – The California Employee Confidence Index edged up 0.3 points to 39.1 in March, according to the latest Spherion^® Employment Report. The monthly survey of California workers, conducted by Harris Interactive^® on behalf of Spherion Corporation (NYSE:SFN), reveals that more workers are likely to look for a new job and more are confident in their ability to do so. At the same time, the vast majority of workers believe job availability has declined.

Results from the California Employment Report:

Forty percent of workers are confident in their ability to find a new job, up two percentage points from February.
Eighty-six percent of workers believe there are fewer jobs available, compared to 82 percent the previous month.
A quarter (25 percent) of workers believe it is likely they will lose their jobs in the next 12 months, showing an 11 percentage-point increase from February.
Nearly half (46 percent) of workers are likely to job search within the next 12 months, representing an increase of 18 percentage points from the previous month.

“Unemployment and job losses continued to rise throughout California in March, despite the slight uptick in the latest California Employee Confidence Index,” explained Beth Noseworthy, region vice president for Spherion. “It is interesting to point out that nearly half of workers indicated that they are likely to look for a new job within the next 12 months. While one can only speculate as to what motivated nearly half of the workers surveyed to consider making a job transition, this is certainty something that employers should take note of and proactively plan for.”

March 2009 Employment Report Results		California Workers			U.S. Workers
		Feb	Mar	% Point Change	Feb	Mar	% Point Change
Economy	Getting Stronger	4%	5%	+1	6%	6%	0
	Staying Same	22%	19%	-3	24%	26%	+2
	Getting Weaker	75%	77%	+2	70%	68%	-2
Job Availability	More Jobs	2%	5%	+3	5%	5%	0
	Same Amount	17%	9%	-8	17%	16%	-1
	Fewer Jobs	82%	86%	+4	79%	78%	-1
Ability to Find New Job	Confident	38%	40%	+2	38%	39%	+1
	Neutral	36%	34%	-2	34%	35%	+1
	Not Confident	26%	26%	0	27%	26%	-1
Future of Current Employer	Confident	63%	65%	+2	63%	66%	+3
	Neutral	25%	22%	-3	24%	22%	-2
	Not Confident	12%	13%	+1	14%	13%	-1
Likelihood to Lose Job	Likely	14%	25%	+11	17%	18%	+1
	Neutral	15%	12%	-3	12%	14%	+2
	Not Likely	71%	62%	-9	71%	68%	-3
Likelihood to Look for New Job	Likely	28%	46%	+18	33%	36%	+3
	Neutral	13%	8%	-5	12%	13%	+1
	Not Likely	59%	46%	-13	56%	51%	-5

About the Spherion Employment Report

Methodology

About Harris Interactive

About Spherion
Spherion Corporation (NYSE:SFN) is a leading recruiting and staffing company that provides integrated solutions and breakout specialties 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 650 locations in the United States and Canada, Spherion delivers innovative workforce solutions that improve business performance. Spherion provides its services to approximately 10,000 customers, from Fortune 500 companies to a wide range of small and mid-size organizations. Employing more than 230,000 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 www.spherion.com.