While employer surveys are revealing a growing bullishness among those who own and operate businesses, employees are still feeling a bit shaky about their economic future.
That's what the latest confidence index report from Randstad (the U.S. Employee Confidence Index) found when it conducted its monthly sampling of workers. After a 19-month index high of 59 in July, the index fell to 55.9 in August. It was little improved at 56.4 in September.
July was a confident month in the U.S. Consumer confidence in July was up, according to the Conference Board, just when the Randstad Index was peaking. Macro confidence and personal confidence levels as measured by the index were also high in July by historical standards. August saw them all drop significantly. And while macro and employee levels moved up slightly in September, personal confidence fell slightly.
Recommended For You
Other findings from the employee index:
- 26 percent say they are confident in the availability of jobs, the same percentage as last month.
- 44 percent of workers say they are confident in their own ability to find a new job, a slight decrease from 45 percent in August.
- 60 percent are confident in the future of their current employer.
- Only 13 percent of employees surveyed believe it is likely they will lose their job in the next 12 months.
"Although overall confidence levels among workers were little changed month-over-month, the index has remained well above our confidence threshold of 50 throughout 2014, compared to the start of the recession when it never climbed above the 40s," said Jim Link, chief HR officer, Randstad North America.
"With the nation's impressive job gains of 248,000 in September and an unemployment rate below 6.0 for the first time since the recession, we expect to see further increases in employee confidence," he said. "The dynamics of a healthier job market such as pay increase demands, more frequent job changes and career mobility should put employers on notice as their top talent may be more susceptible to a career move."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
