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Florida Employment Report: Employee Confidence Index Drops 4.5 Points in September

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., October 16, 2009 – The Florida Employee Confidence Index dropped 4.5 points to 44.5 in September, according to the latest Spherion^® Employment Report. The monthly survey of Florida workers, conducted by Harris Interactive^® on behalf of Spherion Corporation, reveals that fewer workers believe the economy is getting stronger and more workers believe that there are fewer jobs are available. Workers also indicate they are change-ready, with about one-third of workers reporting that it is likely they will look for a new job in the next 12 months.

Results from the Florida Employment Report:

Fewer workers believe the economy is getting stronger. Specifically, 18 percent of workers believe the economy is getting stronger, a decrease of nine percentage points from August. On the contrary, more workers believe the economy is getting weaker, with 41 percent reporting so, up eight percentage points from the previous month.
Seventy-two percent of Florida workers believe there are fewer jobs available, compared to 65 percent in August.
One third (33 percent) of workers believe it is likely they will look for a new job in the next 12 months, representing a six percentage point increase from the previous month.

"Despite soaring to a twelve-month record high last month, we are now seeing that the Florida Employee Confidence Index has lost a bit of that momentum,” said Paula Franco, branch manager for Spherion Staffing Services in Florida. “However, this does not come as a shock. In the midst of an unprecedented economic landscape, we continue to caution about the high probability of fluctuation in our Index and in attitudes among workers. The road to economic recovery has long been heralded as slow-moving. However, this should not encourage companies to simply disregard retention strategies, as one-third of workers reported that they are likely contemplating making a job transition in the months to come.”

September 2009 Employment Report Results		Florida Workers			U.S. Workers
		August	Sept.	% Point Change	August	Sept.	% Point Change
Economy	Getting Stronger	27%	18%	-9	24%	27%	+3
	Staying Same	40%	41%	+1	42%	39%	-3
	Getting Weaker	33%	41%	+8	34%	34%	0
Job Availability	More Jobs	10%	3%	-7	8%	8%	0
	Same Amount	25%	25%	0	24%	23%	-1
	Fewer Jobs	65%	72%	+7	69%	69%	0
Ability to Find New Job	Confident	31%	34%	+3	40%	38%	-2
	Neutral	43%	38%	-5	35%	36%	+1
	Not Confident	26%	28%	+2	25%	26%	+1
Future of Current Employer	Confident	62%	61%	-1	64%	63%	-1
	Neutral	23%	22%	-1	25%	24%	-1
	Not Confident	14%	17%	+3	11%	13%	+2
Likelihood to Lose Job	Likely	12%	19%	+7	15%	17%	+2
	Neutral	24%	17%	-7	12%	13%	+1
	Not Likely	64%	64%	0	73%	70%	-3
Likelihood to Look for New Job	Likely	27%	33%	+6	35%	35%	0
	Neutral	16%	11%	-5	10%	14%	+4
	Not Likely	57%	55%	-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.