After falling to a near 2008 low, the New York Employee Confidence Index increased 9.7 points to 50.1 in August, according to the latest Spherion(R) Employment Report.

The monthly survey of New York workers, conducted by Harris Interactive(R) on behalf of Spherion Corporation, found that more workers are confident in their ability to find a new job, as well as in the number of jobs available. In addition, workers are now feeling more confident about the future of their current employer.

Results from the New York Employment Report:

- Seventeen percent of workers believe that there are more jobs available, an increase of 11 percentage points from July.

- More than half of those surveyed (52 percent) reported confidence in their ability to find a new job, a five-percentage-point increase from the previous month.

- Sixty-eight percent of workers are confident in the future of their current employer, an increase of 13 percentage points from July.

"Although we saw an increase in the unemployment rate, we are still below the national average. It is very encouraging to see workers feeling more optimistic about the job market, as both our state and Spherion's national Indexes show," said Linda Perneau, vice president of Spherion Staffing Services. "We were pleased to see a slight increase in jobs in August. It is important to note that there are still plenty of
opportunities within educational and health services - an area that continues to show significant growth across the state."