Report: Employee confidence slips in July

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Spherion Employee Confidence Index decreased 1.3 points to 46.7 in July. The Index, which measures workers' confidence in their personal employment situation and optimism in the economic environment, reveals a drop in overall optimism as fewer workers believe the economy is getting stronger and the percentage of workers confident in their ability to find a new job declined.

"As month-over-month job losses and a historically high U.S. jobless rate continue to cast doubt on U.S. worker perceptions about the economy, a second consecutive drop in overall worker confidence is not surprising. Given that, our Index still remains higher than what it registered at one year ago and mirrors the trends reported in the latest Conference Board Consumer Confidence results," said Roy Krause, president and CEO of Spherion Corp. "Many economists are predicting that further contraction in jobs will continue as we head into 2010. We have, however, seen some early signs of economic stabilization in our own business and are investing accordingly.”