Philadelphia, PA – March 13, 2019 – SharedXpertise, publisher of HRO Today Magazine, in collaboration with Yoh Recruitment Process Outsourcing, has released the Worker Confidence Index Annual Report for 2018. This annual report analyzes data collected in 2018 that measures employment security from the perspective of U.S. employees, and examines what forces contributed to the results.
The Worker Confidence Index was 107.1 at the end of 2018, which is a year-over-year increase of 2.6 points from the fourth quarter of 2017. Of the four indices measured by the report, three showed increases over 2017: Job Security, Likelihood of a Raise and Likelihood of a Promotion. Notably, the Job Security Index rose to an all-time high. The Trust in Company Leadership Index showed a nominal decline of less than one percent for the year.
“After falling between the fourth quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, the Job Security Index increased in every quarter this year,” said Larry Basinait, vice president of market research at SharedXpertise. “Concern about job loss greatly influences worker confidence, so this positive trend is a valuable indicator of consumers’ current and near-term financial outlook.”
The annual report breaks down each index by demographics, including gender and age, which offers some insights into the decline in the Trust in Company Leadership Index. Men are still significantly more likely to trust their company leadership than women, with a difference between the two genders of over ten percent. In addition, this Index shows a sharp contrast in responses based on age. Nearly one-half of respondents under the age of 45 trust their companies’ leadership; however, this percentage drops off significantly as employees age.
“The findings reflected in the Worker Confidence Index Annual Report for 2018 indicate that workers feel secure in their roles, but overall they are less confident their companies’ leadership to make sound decisions,” said Jonathan Grosso, senior vice president of enterprise solutions at Yoh. “It will be interesting to see if these attitudes change in 2019, and how they might affect companies’ plans to attract and retain talent.”
The full Annual Report is available for download by clicking here.
Study Background
HRO Today Magazine and Yoh have been working together since 2014 to produce an index that measures U.S. employment security from the perspective of employees. While multiple indices focusing on attitudes of the economy already exist – such as the Consumer Confidence Index, Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), and the United States Consumer Sentiment – these measures focus more on macro metrics, with much less emphasis on attitudinal measures of those employed.
The focus of the Worker Confidence Index Study is to measure perceived employment security. According to the U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis, approximately 71 percent of what the U.S. produces is for personal consumption. Since the perception of job security greatly impacts purchasing behavior, there is a need to focus on how individuals perceive their job outlook.
About Yoh
For over 70 years, Yoh has provided the talent needed for the jobs and projects critical to their clients’ success by providing comprehensive workforce solutions that focus on aerospace and defense, engineering, federal services, health care, life sciences, information technology, and telecommunications. Yoh fulfills immediate resource needs and delivers enterprise workforce solutions, including managed services, recruitment process outsourcing, vendor management systems, independent contractor compliance, and payroll services. For more information, visit Yoh.com.
About HRO Today and HRO Today Global
HRO Today and HRO Today Global are the properties of SharedXpertise Media and offer the broadest and deepest reach available anywhere into the HR industry. Our magazines, web portals, research, e-newsletters, events and social networks reach over 180,000 senior-level HR decision-makers with rich, objective, game-changing content. Our No. 1 strength is our reach. HR leaders rely heavily on the HRO Today‘s Baker’s Dozen rankings across six different categories when selecting an HR service provider. For more information, visit www.hrotoday.com.
Media Contact:
Bill MacRae, Publisher
bill.macrae@sharedxpertise.com