Spherion It Employment Report: Technology Workers Feel They Are In The Driver’s Seat

Survey Shows IT Workers are More Likely to Look for New Job than U.S. Adult Workforce Overall

FT. LAUDERDALE (Wednesday, August 03, 2005) - More likely job seekers exist in the IT sector than in the overall workforce, according to the Spherion® IT Employment Report. The monthly survey, conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Spherion, showed that 50 percent of IT workers say they are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months, compared to 39 percent of U.S. adult workers in general.

“During the bubble days of the 1990s, technology workers were considered the job hoppers because their skills were in such demand, and the data here shows that perhaps they still have that job hopper mentality,” said Eric Archer, president of Spherion Professional Services. “In our staffing business, we see confirmation of IT workers’ optimism. Companies have continued to spend on technology initiatives and the hiring of IT workers continues to increase. Even more important is that we are beginning to see shortages of workers with certain skills, especially as employers demand more specialized skills and training for their IT projects.”

Results from the Spherion IT Employment Report:

Job Security Index Shows Nearly Three-fourths of IT Workers Feel Jobs Are Secure

72 percent of adult IT workers feel it is unlikely that their jobs will be eliminated in the next 12 months, compared to 77 percent of U.S. workers.
Job Transition Index Indicates that IT Workers Are More Likely to Hunt for New Job

50 percent of working adults in IT positions say they are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months. Only 39 percent of U.S. adult workers plan to search for a job in the next year.
Less Than One-quarter of IT Workers Have Positive Outlook on Job Market

23 percent of IT workers in the U.S. believe that more jobs are available, compared to 20 percent of U.S. workers.
64 Percent of IT Workers Believe Economy is Moving in the Right Direction

64 percent of adults working in IT positions believe the economy is getting stronger or staying the same, compared to 59 percent of U.S. workers.
Nearly Two-thirds of IT Workers are Confident in Their Employer

65 percent of IT workers feel confident in the future of their employer and only 14 percent have a negative outlook on their employer’s prospects.
Majority of IT Workers Believe They Can Find a New Job

61 percent of adult IT workers are confident in their own ability to find a new job, compared to 58 percent of U.S. workers.
About the Spherion Employment Report
As part of the Spherion® Emerging Workforce® series of employment surveys, the quarterly Spherion IT Employment Report provides a snapshot of the latest workforce trends among IT workers across the country. Two 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; and the Spherion Job Transition Index, which captures how likely respondents are to look for a new job in the next 12 months. The survey also measures respondents’ confidence in the strength of the economy, availability of jobs, the future financial health of their employers and their ability to find a new job.

Methodology
The Spherion IT Employment Report is based on data from the Harris Interactive QuickQuerySM omnibus conducted monthly by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Spherion Corporation. A U.S. sample of 2,789 employed adults, aged 18 years and older, of whom 151 are employed in IT positions, was interviewed in a series of two polls conducted between May 9-11 and May 16-18, 2005. 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. Though this online sample is not a probability sample, in theory, with probability samples of this size, Harris Interactive estimates with 95 percent certainty that the results for the overall sample have a sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Sampling error for the IT workers sample results is plus or minus 8 percentage points of what it would be if the entire U.S. employed adult population of IT workers had been polled with complete accuracy.

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 market research firm in the world, is a Rochester, NY-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 its U.S. offices and wholly owned subsidiaries, HI Europe in London (www.hieurope.com), Novatris in Paris (www.novatris.com), and through an independent global network of affiliate market research companies. EOE M/F/D/V.

To become a member of the Harris Poll OnlineSM and be invited to participate in future online surveys, please visit www.harrispollonline.com.

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