Job market holds steady but worker confidence drops

By Palm Beach Business.com

FORT LAUDERDALE — The job market pretty much held serve in February despite some incredibly heavy snowfalls that just about shut down swaths of the country. The jobless rate came in at 9.7 percent, and the number of jobs lost increased slightly to 36,000, according to the Labor Department.

However, confidence in the market by those who are in the market slipped more than a point as more workers lost faith in the economy and the availability of jobs, as measured by SFN Group’s employee confidence index. On the positive side, the index found workers’ confidence in their own job security and the future of the employer actually strengthened.

The net result was a 1.2-point fall to 48.9 in February.

"Although our report shows a decline in overall confidence from the previous month, it is still 6.2 points higher than the low point of 40.1 it registered at one year ago," said Roy Krause, president and CEO of SFN Group, formerly Spherion Corp. "In fact, hiring demand is better now than what we experienced a few months ago. We are seeing the demand for temporary work starting to pick-up — generally a sign that full-time hiring is on the horizon. From an employer and candidate perspective, I see this flexible segment becoming a greater percentage of the total workforce as we move forward in a recovery.

A look inside the report:

* Twenty-three percent of U.S. workers believe the economy is getting stronger, down five percentage points from January.

* Sixty-seven percent of workers surveyed believe there are fewer jobs available, jumping five points from the previous month.

* The number of workers confident in their ability to find a new job decreased by one percentage point to 38 percent in February.

The percentage of workers reporting confidence in the future of their current employers increased by three percentage points to 64 percent,

* Seventy percent of workers say they are unlikely to lose their jobs in the next year, increasing three percentage points from the previous month.

* Thirty-five percent of workers are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months, representing an increase of two percentage points from last month's reading.