Confidence Continues to Rise among Industrial, Manufacturing and Construction Workers

• Worker optimism about job availability jumps four percentage points
• More workers confident in future of current employer
• Four in 10 likely to look for new jobs in next 12 months

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., November 1, 2006 — The confidence of U.S. workers who are in the industrial, manufacturing and construction industries showed further signs of improvement in the third quarter of 2006, according to the latest Spherion® Employment Report survey conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Spherion Corporation. The third quarter Industrial, Manufacturing and Construction Employee Confidence Index increased by 1.3 points to 54.7—the largest gain in three quarters.

More workers believe that more jobs are available (23 percent) as compared to the second quarter (19 percent) and more have confidence in the future of their current employer—up three percentage points to 59 percent in the third quarter. Seven in 10 workers (71 percent) still believe they are not likely to lose their jobs in the next 12 months, and more than half (55 percent) remain confident in their ability to find new jobs.

“We continue to see overall gains in worker confidence in these sectors, especially in terms of their employers’ futures as indicated by the three-percentage-point rise from last quarter,” said Ralph Henderson, senior vice president of Staffing Services for Spherion. “And four in 10 now report they are likely to change jobs in the next 12 months—five percentage points higher than the overall U.S. workforce. This optimism may reflect ongoing job growth in manufacturing and industrial services, where we’re seeing an up-tick in demand for assembly workers, experienced forklift operators and warehouse/distribution personnel, which is expected to continue with the approaching holiday season. On the other hand, overall demand for construction workers appears to be down somewhat in most areas.”

Employee Confidence Index: The Employee Confidence Index of workers in the industrial, manufacturing and construction industries rose 1.3 points in the third quarter of 2006, fueled primarily by a four-percentage-point rise in worker confidence in the availability of jobs and a three-percentage-point increase in confidence in the future of their employers. While this sector continues to lag the overall U.S. Index, which declined for the third consecutive quarter, the gap narrowed from 4.9 in the second quarter to 2.9 in the third quarter.

About the Spherion Employment Report
As part of the Spherion Emerging Workforce^® series of employment surveys, this quarterly Spherion Employment Report provides a snapshot of the latest workforce trends among light industrial, manufacturing and construction industry workers across the country. 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 2006 Spherion Employment Report is based on data from a Harris Interactive^® online survey conducted on behalf of Spherion Corporation. A U.S. sample of 9,095 employed adults, aged 18 years and older, of whom 366 work in light industrial, manufacturing and construction positions, was interviewed in a series of polls conducted between July 5-7, July 11-13, August 8-10, August 15-17, September 5-7 and September 11-13, 2006. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, education and region were weighted where necessary to bring them in line with actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting adjusted for respondents’ propensity to be online.

With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 9,095 U.S. employed adults one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- one percentage point, and the sampling error for the results of employed adults who work in light industrial, manufacturing and construction positions (n=366) is plus or minus five percentage points. However, that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About Spherion
Spherion Corporation (NYSE:SFN) is a leading recruiting and staffing company that provides integrated solutions to meet the evolving needs of companies and job candidates. As an industry pioneer for 60 years, Spherion has screened and placed millions of individuals in temporary, temp-to-hire and full-time jobs. Positions range from administrative and light industrial to a host of professions that include accounting/finance, information technology, engineering, manufacturing, legal, human resources and sales/marketing.

With approximately 650 locations in the United States and Canada, Spherion delivers innovative workforce solutions that improve business performance. Spherion provides its services to more than 8,000 customers, from Fortune 500 companies to a wide range of small and mid-size organizations. Employing 375,000 people annually through its network, Spherion is one of North America’s largest employers. To learn more, visit www.spherion.com. For up-to-date career tips and trends, visit Spherion’s career blog, The Big Time^SM, at www.spherion.com/careerblog.

About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is the 12th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world. The company provides research-driven insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what could conceivably be the world’s largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiary Novatris in France and through a global network of independent market research firms. The service bureau, HISB, provides its market research industry clients with mixed-mode data collection, panel development services as well as syndicated and tracking research consultation. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com.

To become a member of the Harris Poll Online and be invited to participate in online surveys, register at http://go.hpolsurveys.com/PR.