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New York Employment Report: Employee Confidence Index Decreases, But Remains Relatively High

NEW YORK, N.Y., October 15, 2009 – The New York Employee Confidence Index dipped 5.2 points to 50.4 in September, according to the latest Spherion^® Employment Report. The monthly survey of New York workers, conducted by Harris Interactive^® on behalf of Spherion Corporation, reports that workers’ confidence has decreased in regards to their ability to find a new job and in the future of current employers.

Results from the New York Employment Report:

Forty-six percent of workers are confident in their ability to find a new job, a decrease of six percentage points from August.
Sixty-one percent of workers are confident in the future of their current employer, a 13-percentage-point decline from the previous month.
Workers still feel the economy is on shaky ground, with 25 percent reporting that they believe the economy is getting stronger, a decrease of three percentage points from August.

“Although we experienced a decline in our Employee Confidence Index, workers seem to be more at ease with their current employment situation than this time last year,” said Linda Perneau, vice president and general manager of Spherion Staffing Services. “The constant fluctuation in the national job numbers has been balanced by the positive news of the recession possibly ending, but workers are still concerned about their ability to find work. For the most part, New York’s workers are reflecting what most of the United States is experiencing – cautious optimism and hopeful expectations that more jobs will become available when the economy begins to grow again.”

September 2009 Employment Report Results		New York Workers			U.S. Workers
		August	Sept	% Point Change	August	Sept	% Point Change
Economy	Getting Stronger	28%	25%	-3	24%	27%	+3
	Staying Same	45%	45%	0	42%	39%	-3
	Getting Weaker	27%	31%	+4	34%	34%	0
Job Availability	More Jobs	8%	7%	-1	8%	8%	0
	Same Amount	28%	28%	0	24%	23%	-1
	Fewer Jobs	65%	65%	0	69%	69%	0
Ability to Find New Job	Confident	52%	46%	-6	40%	38%	-2
	Neutral	32%	32%	0	35%	36%	+1
	Not Confident	17%	22%	+5	25%	26%	+1
Future of Current Employer	Confident	74%	61%	-13	64%	63%	-1
	Neutral	17%	21%	+4	25%	24%	-1
	Not Confident	9%	18%	+9	11%	13%	+2
Likelihood to Lose Job	Likely	14%	15%	+1	15%	17%	+2
	Neutral	12%	9%	-3	12%	13%	+1
	Not Likely	74%	76%	+2	73%	70%	-3
Likelihood to Look for New Job	Likely	32%	32%	0	35%	35%	0
	Neutral	8%	10%	+2	10%	14%	+4
	Not Likely	60%	58%	-2	54%	51%	-3

About the Spherion Employment Report

Methodology

About Harris Interactive

About Spherion Staffing Services

Spherion Staffing Services is a leading recruiting and staffing provider that specializes in placing administrative, clerical, customer service and light industrial candidates in temporary and full-time opportunities. As an industry pioneer for more than 60 years, Spherion Staffing Services has sourced, screened and placed millions of individuals in a multitude of industries throughout our network of offices across the United States and Canada.

Spherion Staffing Services is a division of Spherion Corporation (NYSE:SFN), which operates a family of specialty brands providing strategic workplace solutions in professional recruiting, outsourcing, managed services and contractor compliance programs, technology services and general staffing. For more information, please visit www.spherion.com.