'Employee confidence is stabilizing, especially as employee concerns of a recession or more layoffs decrease'
Employee confidence continued its rise just before the year 2023 ended, according to a report from Glassdoor.
The share of employees reporting a positive six-month business outlook stood at 47.2 per cent in December 2023, up from 46.8 per cent the month prior, finds the study, based on an aggregated collection of employee reviews on Glassdoor’s website.
That marked a three-month streak of increases.
“As 2023 comes to a close, it seems optimism may be filling the air once again,” said Daniel Zhao, Glassdoor’s lead economist.
“At the year-end, it is an encouraging sign that employee confidence is stabilizing, especially as employee concerns of a recession or more layoffs decrease. Stronger confidence, especially among senior employees, will hopefully bring good tidings for healthy hiring and growth in 2024.”
Confidence towards the six-month business outlook is highest among those in the director and higher level (64.8 per cent), followed by those in the mid-senior level (49.5 per cent) and entry level (48.4 per cent).
Two in three (67 per cent) employers are optimistic about the economic outlook today, 65 per cent have the same sentiment for the next 12 months and 73 per cent for the next five years, ATB Financial previously reported.
Employee confidence by industry
Optimism is also high across different industries.
The highest share of workers expressing a positive six-month business outlook in December is in the construction industry (60.0 per cent), though it did not change from the data in November.
Optimism, meanwhile, increased in the following sectors from November to December 2023.
- utilities (56.1 per cent, +0.7 per cent)
- professional and business services (54.5 per cent, +0.8 per cent)
- financial activities (51.1 per cent, +0.4 per cent)
- information (48.7 per cent, +0.05 per cent)
- transportation and warehousing (
- leisure and hospitality (42.2 per cent, +1.6 per cent)
- other services (45.2 per cent, +1.0 per cent)
- retail trade (39.0 per cent, +1.0 per cent)
On the other hand, the confidence level fell slightly in the following industries:
- wholesale trade (48.9 per cent, -0.1 per cent)
- manufacturing (45.8 per cent, -0.4 per cent)
- public administration (40.1 per cent, -1.0 per cent)
There was a slight drop in Canadian workers’ overall happiness level in the last month of 2023, according to a report from ADP Canada.
Confidence level in educational and health services stood at 47.8 per cent in December, unchanged from November.
