Employee Confidence Reaches Five-Month High in January

NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the most recent Randstad U.S. Employee Confidence Index, the outlook among American workers continues to improve. The January Index, which measures sentiment around employers, job prospects and the economy at large, reached 56.7 points, a five-month high since August of 2013 when the Index reached 58.0. The Randstad research was conducted online by Harris Interactive between January 6 and 8 on behalf of Randstad and included 1,071 employed U.S. adults ages 18 and older.

"Worker confidence appears to be gaining momentum as we head into the New Year, which mirrors other U.S. confidence measures recently published," said Jim Link, Chief HR Officer, Randstad North America. "This consistent rise seen in our Index may be attributed to several macroeconomic factors, including a decrease in the unemployment rate, as well as gains in the stock and housing market. In fact, almost one-third of American workers are positive about our economic outlook, a significant uptick from the 20 percent reading during the October government shutdown."

Jim Link added: "Among the discussions at the 2014 World Economic Forum was the prediction that U.S. economic growth could accelerate to 2.8 percent in 2014 from 1.9 percent in 2013. Industries such as energy, healthcare, technology and manufacturing are expected to post solid increases in job opportunities, and thus are helping to drive economic growth. This is a great sign, along with the readings from our survey, that this upcoming year will be fruitful for American workers."

Randstad, the second largest staffing and HR services firm in the world, has been tracking workforce trends and publishing the U.S. Employee Confidence Index since 2004.

About Randstad US
Randstad US is a wholly owned subsidiary of Randstad Holding nv, a $22.0 billion global provider of HR services. As the third largest staffing organization in the U.S., Randstad holds top positions in permanent placement, office and administrative, IT and accounting and finance. From professional services, commercial staffing, recruitment process outsourcing, to managed services and more, Randstad delivers a comprehensive range of temporary, temporary-to-hire, permanent placement and outsourced placement services. With its 5,660 employment experts, Randstad puts an average of nearly 100,000 people to work in the U.S. each week, through its network of more than 900 branches and client-dedicated locations.

Learn more at www.randstad.com and access Randstad's panoramic US thought leadership knowledge center through its Workforce360 site that offers valuable insight into the latest economic indicators and HR trends shaping the world of work.

Methodology
This 2014 Randstad Employment Tracker was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Randstad between January 6-8, 2013 among a U.S. sample of 1,071 employed adults, aged 18 years and older. Results were weighted as needed for age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, education, and region. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the U.S. adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to be invited to participate in the Harris Interactive online research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for The Harris Poll®, Harris offers proprietary solutions in the areas of market and customer insight, corporate brand and reputation strategy, and marketing, advertising, public relations and communications research across a wide range of industries. Additionally, Harris has a portfolio of multi-client offerings that complement our custom solutions while maximizing a client's research investment. Serving clients worldwide through our North American and European offices, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help our clients stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

SOURCE Randstad