Press Room

Press Release Archive

Texas Employment Report: Employee Confidence Index Down 3.1 Points in September

DALLAS, Texas, October 16, 2009 – The Texas Employee Confidence Index dropped 3.1 points to 50.6 in September, according to the latest Spherion^® Employment Report. The monthly survey of Texas workers, conducted by Harris Interactive^® on behalf of Spherion Corporation, paints a portrait of uncertainty and wavering optimism among Texas workers in the wake of the elevated level of confidence reported by workers in August.

Results from the Texas Employment Report:

Workers are split in their belief on whether the economy is getting stronger or weaker, with 30 percent reporting increasing strength and 34 percent indicating that the economy is getting weaker.
Fewer workers are confident in their ability to find a new job. Specifically, 43 percent are confident in their ability to find a new job, a decrease of 11 percentage points from August.
Approximately half (51 percent) of workers believe it is not likely they will look for a new job in the next 12 months, representing a nine percentage point decrease from August.
Sixty-nine percent of workers believe it is not likely they will lose their jobs versus 80 percent in the previous month.

“It appears that our Texas Employee Confidence Index has encountered a slight setback in September, with more workers voicing concerns about their ability to find a new job and the security of their current positions,” said Kim Lockhart, regional vice president for Spherion in Texas. “We are also seeing a clear divide among workers who believe the economy is getting stronger versus those who believe it is getting weaker. Until we see some definitive evidence of job growth and corporate confidence, we are likely to see our Index bump around a bit in the months to come.”

September 2009 Employment Report Results		Texas Workers			U.S. Workers
		August	Sept.	% Point Change	August	Sept.	% Point Change
Economy	Getting Stronger	25%	20%	+5	24%	27%	+3
	Staying Same	47%	37%	-10	42%	39%	-3
	Getting Weaker	28%	34%	+6	34%	34%	0
Job Availability	More Jobs	7%	11%	+6	8%	8%	0
	Same Amount	33%	26%	-7	24%	23%	-1
	Fewer Jobs	61%	63%	+2	69%	69%	0
Ability to Find New Job	Confident	54%	43%	-11	40%	38%	-2
	Neutral	26%	32%	+6	35%	36%	+1
	Not Confident	20%	25%	+5	25%	26%	+1
Future of Current Employer	Confident	60%	60%	0	64%	63%	-1
	Neutral	31%	22%	-9	25%	24%	-1
	Not Confident	8%	17%	+9	11%	13%	+2
Likelihood to Lose Job	Likely	8%	19%	+11	15%	17%	+2
	Neutral	12%	12%	0	12%	13%	+1
	Not Likely	80%	69%	-11	73%	70%	-3
Likelihood to Look for New Job	Likely	29%	33%	+4	11%	16%	+5
	Neutral	11%	16%	+5	10%	14%	+4
	Not Likely	29%	33%	+4	11%	16%	+5

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.