U.S. Employee Confidence Levels Ease Slightly in August

ATLANTA, Sept. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- After two months of record-breaking confidence levels among employees, the August Randstad U.S. Employee Confidence Index fell to 55.9, declining 3.2 points from 59.1 last month. The Randstad macroeconomic confidence index also fell to 44.9 from 49.2 in July, as did the Randstad personal confidence index which decreased 2.1 points to 66.9. The study is conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Randstad, among 1,043 employed U.S. adults ages 18 and older.

Workers indicated less confidence in the strength of the economy, with only 27 percent believing it is getting stronger this month compared to 35 percent in July. When it comes to the availability of jobs and the ability to find one, workers showed diminished optimism in August. For example, four in 10 workers believe there are fewer jobs available, and nearly one-quarter (24 percent) say they are not confident in their ability to find them.

However, confidence levels regarding their current employment situation remain high. The clear majority (74 percent) of workers believe it is not likely they will lose their job in the next 12 months. In addition, 61 percent of employees are confident in the future of their current employer, and more than five in 10 (53 percent) workers say it is not likely they will look for another job in the next year.

"Workers' confidence reached all-time highs during the big accelerations in job growth, the unemployment rate fell markedly and hiring diversified across more industries," said Jim Link, Chief HR Officer, Randstad North America. "While still showing steady growth, more tempered jobs reports in recent months have translated into a slight reduction in employee confidence levels, although nowhere near the low in October one year ago. The bottom line is the economy is still climbing upward. In fact, July marked the sixth straight month of employment growth above 200,000.

"While we expect to see slight dips and bumps in employee confidence levels in response to monthly employment indicators, the overall sentiment remains fairly positive and at higher levels than we have seen over the past four years," continued Link. "Businesses aren't about to hit the brakes on hiring as indicated by a number of reports. The nation's largest small-business lobbying group says employment has risen 10 consecutive months for the first time since 2006. And a weekly report that tracks how many people apply for jobless benefits recently hit a 14-year low."

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 5,324 employment experts, Randstad puts an average of approximately 100,000 people to work in the U.S. each week, through its network of nearly 1,000 branches and client-dedicated locations.

Learn more at www.randstadusa.com and access Randstad's panoramic U.S. 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 August 4-6, 2014 among a U.S. sample of 1,043 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 adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the online panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About Nielsen & The Harris Poll
On February 3, 2014, Nielsen acquired Harris Interactive and The Harris Poll.  Nielsen Holdings N.V. is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence and mobile measurement. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.

SOURCE Randstad