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California Employment Report: Employee Confidence Index Dips 2.2 Points in September

LOS ANGELES, Calif., October 16, 2009 –The California Employee Confidence Index dipped 2.2 points to 45.9 in September, 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 workers feel less confident in the future of their current employer and in the security of their jobs. Despite this slight drop in worker confidence, signs of heightened economic optimism were also reported.

Results from the California Employment Report:

Fewer workers believe the economy is getting weaker. Specifically, 34 percent versus 42 percent in August.
More than half (54 percent) of workers are confident in the future of their current employer, a decrease of eight percentage points from the previous month.
In September, fewer workers (60 percent) indicated that they believe it is not likely they will lose their job in the next 12 months, dropping seven percentage points from August.

“The hiccup in this month’s California Employee Confidence Index can be attributed to a dip in confidence among workers’ personal employment situations,” explained Brian Veverka, senior branch manager for Spherion. “We were quite surprised to see that workers were feeling less secure in the future of their current employers, yet more confident in the health of the overall economy. It is likely that workers are feeling uncertain amid recent economic reports in comparison to what their workplace realities may be. Although we continue to see job loss reported each month, the pace at which it is occurring has slowed a bit. Until we see more definitive evidence of job creation, it is likely we will continue to see fluctuating confidence levels among employees.”

September 2009 Employment Report Results		California Workers			U.S. Workers
		August	Sept	% Point Change	August	Sept	% Point Change
Economy	Getting Stronger	19%	23%	+4	24%	27%	+3
	Staying Same	38%	43%	+5	42%	39%	-3
	Getting Weaker	42%	34%	-8	34%	34%	0
Job Availability	More Jobs	8%	6%	-2	8%	8%	0
	Same Amount	27%	25%	-2	24%	23%	-1
	Fewer Jobs	65%	69%	+4	69%	69%	0
Ability to Find New Job	Confident	35%	34%	-1	40%	38%	-2
	Neutral	41%	37%	-4	35%	36%	+1
	Not Confident	24%	28%	+4	25%	26%	+1
Future of Current Employer	Confident	62%	54%	-8	64%	63%	-1
	Neutral	30%	29%	-1	25%	24%	-1
	Not Confident	8%	18%	+10	11%	13%	+2
Likelihood to Lose Job	Likely	20%	26%	+6	15%	17%	+2
	Neutral	13%	13%	0	12%	13%	+1
	Not Likely	67%	60%	-7	73%	70%	-3
Likelihood to Look for New Job	Likely	43%	40%	-3	35%	35%	0
	Neutral	6%	12%	+6	10%	14%	+4
	Not Likely	51%	48%	-3	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.