U.S. Workers Start Year with Measured Confidence

NEW YORK -- A recent economic index remained on par with December's 103.4 reading as U.S. worker confidence slipped just .8 points to 102.6 in January. The most notable change contributing to this slight decline was the flagging optimism about hiring amongst managers.

However, overall hiring expectations and job satisfaction held steady in January with only negligible shifts in employees' perceptions of their finances and job security. Buoyed by December's strong index, the latest reading is higher than most recorded in 2005, although well below the 107.0 reading in January 2005.

The survey also found that Hispanic workers were less optimistic than the overall workforce, as were people who work in the legal profession. The indexes for these sectors, segmented for the first time in this month's survey, stood at 98.1 and 100.4, respectively.

Managers were less confident about their firms' hiring plans in January than the previous month. Only 29 percent anticipated more hiring in the coming months, compared to 33 percent in December. They were also slightly less optimistic than workers overall, 30 percent of whom anticipated a boost in headcount (unchanged from December).

"Whereas we typically see a new year's increase, our polling indicates that workers are approaching this year with a 'wait-and-see' attitude," said Steve Wolfe, executive vice president, Hudson, North America, the company managing the index. "This is not a great cause for concern, though, as worker sentiment remains essentially unchanged from December, which showed increased optimism overall."