U.S. Employee Confidence Dips in February

Confidence Index remains higher year-over-year

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Mar 04, 2014, 08:00 ET

NEW YORK, March 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the most recent Randstad US Employee Confidence Index, optimism among American workers declined in the month of February, decreasing 2.7 points to 54.0. The February Index, which measures sentiment around employers, job prospects and the economy at large, decreased from last month's five-month high, but remains .5 points higher than this time last year. In addition, more workers indicated they are likely to conduct a job search over the next 12 months.

"Recent, positive economic reports seem to conflict with the dip in employee confidence," said Jim Link, Chief HR Officer, Randstad North America. "However, examination of the numbers helps explain the disparity. For example, recent data shows expanded manufacturing activity, improved construction investment and a simultaneous rise in consumer spending. At the same time, increased energy costs from recent cold weather significantly impacted the higher-than-expected consumer outlay, and discretionary spending actually slowed. Despite improved economic reports, employees remain cautious as hiring shows steady improvement."

Link notes that many economists predict consumer spending to continue to grow over the next few months and 2014 economic growth could reach its strongest levels since the recession ended nearly five years ago. "Only time will tell, but I certainly would not classify this decline in employee confidence as a growing trend."

The Randstad research was conducted online by Harris Poll between Feb. 3 and 5 on behalf of Randstad and included 1,019 employed U.S. adults ages 18 and older. 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.

Employee Confidence Index
	Employee	Macro	Personal	Transition	Security
MONTH	Confidence	Confidence	Confidence	Index	Index
Feb-14	54.0	42.2	65.9	36	72
Jan-14	56.7	44.9	68.5	32	71
Dec-13	55.2	43.7	66.7	36	70
Nov-13	54.5	41.2	67.8	34	69
Oct-13	51.5	34.8	68.3	37	71
Sep-13	55.7	44.7	66.7	36	76
Aug-13	58	47.3	68.7	32	74
Jul-13	56.3	44.3	68.3	36	72
Jun-13	56.8	46.5	67.1	36	72
May-13	54.8	42.6	67.1	37	69
Apr-13	57	46.8	67.2	35	69
Mar-13	53.9	40.1	67.8	33	73
Feb-13	53.5	42.9	64.1	37	72
Jan-13	52.1	38.3	65.8	33	72

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 Poll on behalf of Randstad between February 3-5, 2014 among a U.S. sample of 1,019 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, the words "margin of error" are avoided 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 Poll 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.

SOURCE Randstad US