Following a sharp drop in August, confidence among accounting and finance workers rebounded to hit a record high for the year in September, according to staffing firm Hudson.
The Hudson Employment Index, which tracks workers' confidence in the employment market, gained 5.6 points to hit 119.3 -- a record high since Hudson began tracking industry-specific employment confidence in January, and still well above the national index for all workers, which fell two points from the previous month to 106.9.
Hudson said that the renewed confidence for accounting and finance workers can be attributed to a five-point increase in the percentage of industry workers who reported positive job satisfaction to 75 percent in September.
Accounting and finance workers' job security concerns have also declined. The percentage of accounting and finance workers worried about losing their jobs fell six percentage points to 14 percent in September from 20 percent in August. The percentage of industry workers looking for new jobs fell two percentage points 70 percent in September.
While private sector employees remain the most bullish segment of the U.S. workforce, across all industries, the index saw a decrease in the percentage of private sector workers reporting hiring plans by their employers for the first time in five months. This figure, which remained at 39 percent from April through August, slipped to 38 percent in September, Hudson reported. The percentage of all workers and managers who anticipate hiring in their firms fell a point to 32 percent and 33 percent respectively. The index results are based on a national telephone survey of 10,103 workers.
"Workers' optimism about the job market has been impacted by influencers such as increased energy prices, lagging salaries and uncertainty around the presidential election," said Jeff Anderson, senior vice president of Hudson Global Resources. "We expect this speculative environment to continue to have an effect on employee attitudes in the coming weeks."
