Randstad Employee Confidence Index Hits Five-month High

 The newest Randstad U.S. Employee Confidence Index indicates that the outlook of American workers continues to improve. The Index, which measures attitudes and perceptions of employers, job prospects, and the economy measured 56.7 points in January, the highest since August 2013 when the Index reached 58.0.

“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 at 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.”

Link continued, “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.”

Over the year, the Index rose in the three key categories of employee confidence, macro confidence, and personal confidence. For January 2014, Index levels were measured at 56.7 for employee confidence, 44.9 for macro confidence, and 68.5 for personal confidence compared to January 2013, which measured 52.1, 38.3, and 65.8, respectively.