Washington, DC, Jan. 10--Employee confidence declined in December to 66 as employees expressed decreasing confidence in the U.S. job market. This follows a 10% increase to 71 in November, according to the Gallup/UBS Employee Outlook Index, a joint venture of The Gallup Organization and UBS. Established in April 2002, the Index had an initial baseline of 72.
This month, employees voiced increased concern about job security. Overall, the Job Security Index fell to 44 in December from 52 the month before. When asked if the current job market is only fair for people like them, 36% of respondents said yes, 13% feel the market is excellent, 30% think it is good and 21% feel that the job market is poor.
When asked if their company provides opportunities to utilize their professional talents, a majority of those surveyed, 75%, answered yes, while 24% said their company does not. Moreover, 89% of employees say their employers encourage job skill improvement, compared with 10% who report they don’t. In fact, 77% of employees said that their company provides special training at work to improve their job skills, while only 22% of companies don’t provide training. In addition, 66% of participants say that their company provides opportunities to attend outside classes, while 33% say that they are not provided with outside opportunities to improve their job skills.
Importantly, nearly two thirds of those surveyed say that their company offers employee incentives in the form of pay or a promotion if increased skills or education were demonstrated, while only 34% say that their companies do not provide these incentives.
In commenting on this month's findings, Gallup Chief Economist Dr. Dennis Jacobe said, "The December index decline is consistent with other leading economic indicators. The continued threat of war, increased layoffs, the issue of extended unemployment benefits, and the close of one of the most difficult economic years in decades all contributed to battered confidence in the nation's economy."
