Administrative and clerical workers are more confident in the job market after rising 3.8 points to 51.6 percent in the Randstad Administrative & Clerical Worker Employee Confidence Index during the fourth quarter of 2012.
This is the highest level of employee confidence since the third quarter of 2007.
"As the job market for administrative and clerical workers continues to improve, we see a corresponding optimism among workers in how they view the economy, available jobs and their willingness to job search," says Phyllis Finley, executive vice president at Randstad US.
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While 37 percent of respondents say the economy is weakening, a decline of five percentage points from the third quarter of 2012, 40 percent of respondents say the economy's strength has remained the same. Another 21 percent of respondents say more jobs are open, a gain from 16 percent in the third quarter, and 46 percent of respondents say fewer jobs are available, a drop of 10 percentage points from the third quarter.
Regarding finding new employment, 36 percent of respondents agree that they are confident they could find jobs while 33 percent of respondents are neutral, and 30 percent of respondents say they are not confident they could do so. Sixty percent of respondents say they are confident in the future of their employers. Only 14 percent of respondents report that they are not confident in the future of their employers.
In the next year, 34 percent of respondents say they are likely to search for new employment, up from 30 percent in the third quarter.
"In this quarter's survey, we see not only a growing confidence among workers in their ability to find jobs, but also their intent to job search," Finley says. "More than a third of workers surveyed stated they were confident in their ability to find a new job while the majority of workers were optimistic about the future of their employers. Also, according to our latest engagement study of administrative and customer service workers, 58 percent expect the job market to pick up in 2013. These findings indicate that it's imperative for companies to focus on employee engagement and retention efforts, especially as employees look to new job opportunities as the economy continues to show steady signs of improvement."
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