Spherion Employment Report: Employee Confidence Index Drops Slightly As Macroeconomic Concerns Weigh on Workers’ Minds

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 1, 2005 — The Spherion^® Employee Confidence Index decreased one point in March, amid concerns about the strength of the economy. The March Employment Report survey, conducted by Harris Interactive^® on behalf of Spherion Corporation (NYSE:SFN), also showed that workers still remain confident in their personal employment situation and job security despite their opinions about the macroeconomic environment.

The Employee Confidence Index dropped one point from 59 in February to 58 in March because of increased pessimism about the strength of the economy and availability of jobs. The subscale Macroeconomic Confidence Index, which measures workers’ confidence in the overall economy dropped from 44 to 42 because of fewer workers being optimistic about outlook on the strength of the economy and the availability of jobs. The Personal Confidence Index, a subscale index measuring workers’ confidence in their personal employment situation, increased slightly from 73 to 74, as more workers had confidence in the future of their current employer. For detailed information on the calculation of the Employee Confidence Index and its subscale measurements, please see the “About the Spherion Employment Report” section below.

“While personal confidence remains at high levels and actually strengthened over the month, overall worker optimism was dampened somewhat by lingering economic uncertainty, most likely due to higher energy prices and growing concern about inflation,” said Roy Krause, Spherion president and chief executive officer. “However, economic expansion and job creation continues and indicators from the government and our own staffing and recruiting business point toward steady growth for the foreseeable future as employers continue to add workers to their payrolls on both flexible and full-time assignments.”

Results from the March Spherion Employment Report:

Employee Confidence Index: Workers’ Economic Outlook Lowers Overall Level of Confidence  

• The Employee Confidence Index dropped from 59 in February to 58 in March due to a decrease in the percentage of workers that are confident about the macroeconomic environment.
• Macroeconomic Confidence Index: Workers’ confidence in the macroeconomic environment decreased from 44 in February to 42 in March as a result of increasing concerns about the strength of the economy and availability of jobs.

Specific findings from Macroeconomic Confidence Index include:

• 23% of U.S. adult workers believe that more jobs are available, compared to 24% in February.
• 27% of U.S. adult workers believe the economy is getting stronger, down three percentage points from the prior month.

• Personal Confidence Index: Personal Confidence Rises Slightly

Specific findings from Personal Confidence Index include:

• 65% of adult workers in the U.S. feel confident in the future of their employer, up one percentage point from February.
• 58% of adult workers in the U.S. have confidence in their own ability to find a new job, compared to 59% in the previous month.

Job Security Index: 79 Percent of Workers Feel Their Job is Secure

• 79% of U.S. adult workers feel it is unlikely that their jobs will be eliminated in the next 12 months, unchanged from February.

Job Transition Index: Fewer Workers Likely to Look for New Job

• 35% of working adults in the U.S. said they are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months, down from 38% in February.

About the Spherion Employment Report
As part of the Spherion^® Emerging Workforce^® series of employment surveys, the monthly Spherion Employment Report provides a snapshot of the latest workforce trends across the country and is issued in conjunction with state and national labor market releases. Three key indices are measured: the Spherion Job Security Index, which captures how likely respondents think it is that they will lose their job or that their job will be eliminated in the next 12 months; the Spherion Job Transition Index, which captures how likely respondents are to look for a new job in the next 12 months and the Employee Confidence Index that measures employees’ overall confidence in the economy, their employer and their ability to find other employment. The Employee Confidence Index is calculated from the results of four components that reflect these aspects of employee confidence. For each component item a ‘score’ is calculated by taking the difference of the percentage of positive responses and the percentage of negative responses. These four scores are then averaged to indicate an overall level of employee confidence and is scaled from 0 (no confidence) to 100 (complete confidence). A reading above 50 indicates a positive confidence level.

Methodology
The March 2005 Spherion Employment Report is based on data from the Harris Interactive QuickQuery^SM online omnibus conducted monthly by Harris Interactive^® on behalf of Spherion Corporation. A U.S. sample of 3,201 employed adults, aged 18 years and older, was interviewed in a series of two polls conducted between March 16-18 and March 22-24, 2005 (for February 2005 n=3,193). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, education and region were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting adjusted for respondents’ propensity to be online. In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. population of employed adults had been polled with complete accuracy. This online sample was not a probability sample.

About Spherion
Spherion Corporation is a leader in the staffing industry in North America, providing value-added staffing, recruiting and workforce solutions. Spherion has helped companies improve their bottom line by efficiently planning, acquiring and optimizing talent since 1946. To learn more, visit www.spherion.com.

About Harris Interactive^®
Harris Interactive Inc. (www.harrisinteractive.com), the 15th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world, is a Rochester, N.Y.-based global research company that blends premier strategic consulting with innovative and efficient methods of investigation, analysis and application. Known for The Harris Poll^® and for pioneering Internet-based research methods, Harris Interactive conducts proprietary and public research to help its clients achieve clear, material and enduring results.

Harris Interactive combines its intellectual capital, databases and technology to advance market leadership through U.S. offices and wholly owned subsidiaries: London-based HI Europe (www.hieurope.com), Paris-based Novatris (www.novatris.com), Tokyo-based Harris Interactive Japan, through newly acquired WirthlinWorldwide, a Reston, Virginia-based research and consultancy firm ranked 25th largest in the world, and through an independent global network of affiliate market research companies.