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New York Employment Report: Employee Confidence Index Slides For Second Consecutive Month; Workers’ Jitters About Economy Return

NEW YORK, N.Y., November 19, 2009 – The New York Employee Confidence Index decreased 3.5 points to 46.9 in October, according to the latest Spherion^® Employment Report. The monthly survey of New York workers, conducted by Harris Interactive^® on behalf of Spherion Corporation, reveals that more workers are pessimistic about the economy, and lack confidence in their ability to find a new job.

Results from the New York Employment Report:

Nineteen percent of workers believe the economy is getting stronger, a decrease of six percentage points from September.
Fewer workers (35 percent) are confident in their ability to find a new job, an 11-percentage-point decline from the previous month.
Thirty-one percent of workers are likely to look for a new job, a slight decrease of one percentage point from September.

“Similar to our national report, New York’s workers are concerned about the overall economy and job availability,” said Linda Perneau, vice president and general manager of Spherion Staffing Services. “Typically, we look to the end of the year to buoy the jobs outlook due to retailers adding jobs for the holidays, but we may not see as bright a market in that area as in previous years. We hope that this is just a hiccup in the recovery, and the numbers will rebound again as we move into the New Year.”

October 2009 Employment Report Results		New York Workers			U.S. Workers
		Sept.	Oct.	% Point Change	Sept.	Oct.	% Point Change
Economy	Getting Stronger	25%	19%	-6	27%	23%	-4
	Staying Same	45%	46%	+1	39%	41%	+2
	Getting Weaker	31%	35%	+4	34%	35%	+1
Job Availability	More Jobs	7%	8%	+1	8%	8%	0
	Same Amount	28%	18%	-10	23%	22%	-1
	Fewer Jobs	65%	74%	+9	69%	70%	+1
Ability to Find New Job	Confident	46%	35%	-11	38%	38%	0
	Neutral	32%	39%	+7	36%	34%	-2
	Not Confident	22%	25%	+3	26%	28%	+2
Future of Current Employer	Confident	61%	64%	+3	63%	64%	+1
	Neutral	21%	19%	-2	24%	24%	0
	Not Confident	18%	17%	-1	13%	12%	-1
Likelihood to Lose Job	Likely	15%	9%	-6	17%	14%	-3
	Neutral	9%	18%	+9	13%	15%	+2
	Not Likely	76%	73%	-3	70%	71%	+1
Likelihood to Look for New Job	Likely	32%	21%	-1	35%	32%	-3
	Neutral	10%	9%	-1	14%	13%	-1
	Not Likely	58%	60%	+2	51%	55%	+4

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.