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Texas Employment Report: Employee Confidence Index Inches Up in October

DALLAS, Texas, November 20, 2009 – The Texas Employee Confidence Index increased 0.7 points to 51.3 in October, according to the latest Spherion^® Employment Report. The monthly survey of Texas workers, conducted by Harris Interactive^® on behalf of Spherion Corporation, reveals a slight increase in overall confidence among Texas workers, underscored by workers’ increased optimism in the future of their current employer. This uptick comes in spite of fewer workers reporting confidence in the strength of the economy.

Results from the Texas Employment Report:

Fewer workers believe the economy is getting stronger, with only 21 percent reporting that they believe so. This represents a nine percentage-point decrease from September.
Forty-three percent of workers are confident in their ability to find a new job, showing no change from the previous month.
More workers are confident in the future of their current employers. Specifically, 67 percent reported confidence, up seven percentage points from September. Meanwhile, only 11 percent of workers reported that they are not confident in their employer’s future.
Seventy-six percent of workers believe it is not likely they will lose their jobs versus 69 percent in the previous month.

“Although more workers shared with us in October’s Texas Employment Report that they feel confident in their personal employment situations, we are still continuing to see a sense of apprehension in their overall economic sentiment,” said Kim Lockhart, regional vice president for Spherion in Texas. “With Texas being one of the last states to begin feeling the impact of this recession, it is will likely take some time to begin experiencing definitive signs of a recovery. Despite this, our Texas Employee Confidence Index remains near the highest reading recorded in the past 12 months, a testament to the resilient spirit of Texas workers.”

October 2009 Employment Report Results		Texas Workers			U.S. Workers
		Sept.	Oct.	% Point Change	Sept.	Oct.	% Point Change
Economy	Getting Stronger	30%	21%	-9	27%	23%	-4
	Staying Same	37%	42%	+5	39%	41%	+2
	Getting Weaker	34%	37%	+3	34%	35%	+1
Job Availability	More Jobs	11%	14%	+3	8%	8%	0
	Same Amount	26%	26%	0	23%	22%	-1
	Fewer Jobs	63%	61%	-2	69%	70%	+1
Ability to Find New Job	Confident	43%	43%	0	38%	38%	0
	Neutral	32%	31%	-1	36%	34%	-2
	Not Confident	25%	26%	+1	26%	28%	+2
Future of Current Employer	Confident	60%	67%	+7	63%	64%	+1
	Neutral	22%	23%	+1	24%	24%	0
	Not Confident	17%	11%	-6	13%	12%	-1
Likelihood to Lose Job	Likely	19%	10%	-9	17%	14%	-3
	Neutral	12%	14%	+2	13%	15%	+2
	Not Likely	69%	76%	+7	70%	71%	+1
Likelihood to Look for New Job	Likely	33%	35%	+2	35%	32%	-3
	Neutral	16%	11%	-5	14%	13%	-1
	Not Likely	51%	55%	+4	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.