Index Shows Workers Uneasy

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A new study shows that Los Angels-based workers are seeing an increasingly bleak future on the horizon.


According to the Hudson Employment Index, worker confidence in May dropped 7.7 points in the L.A. area to 96.8, marking the third consecutive declining month, the study said, citing decreases in expected hiring with financial concerns as contributing factors.


L.A.’s measure of worker confidence has plunged more than 16 points since February and has fallen off from last May’s reading of 104.


“While we’ve seen declines in more than half of the national markets, the drop-off seems more pronounced in the Los Angeles area because of the steeper price of living,” said Robert Morgan, a spokesman for the Hudson Index.


The index said that the number of workers expecting their company to hire fell to 29 percent, the third consecutive monthly decline while workers who said their finances were improving dropped six points to 37 percent.


Forty percent of those surveyed said their financial situation was getting worse, a 5 point slide from April.


“The drop in the index is probably more indicative of the pinch being put on consumers, with gas prices and groceries seeing increases of late,” Jack Kyser, the chief economist at the L.A. Economic Development Corp. said. “We still hear a lot that companies are having difficulties filling skilled positions, plus the economy is still very strong. So I wouldn’t worry too much.”


The Index, which is based on responses from approximately 9,000 workers nationwide, uses the number 100 as an arbitrary starting point for the survey.


Los Angeles was the weakest city of the 11 cities surveyed while Atlanta was the highest, with an index mark of 122. Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tampa and Washington DC are also part of the survey.


Hudson Index has been conducted nationally since Dec. 2003 and in the L.A. areas since Dec. 2004, the Chicago-based company said.

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