Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index: Optimistic Notes to End 2023
Daniel Zhao
Chief Economist at Glassdoor | Jan 4, 2024
Employee confidence rose to end the year with some green shoots of a rebound, according to the latest data from the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index. The share of employees reporting a positive 6-month business outlook grew to 47.2% in December from 46.8% in November, hitting the highest level since July and marking a 3-month streak of consecutive increases. While employee confidence tumbled in 2022 and early 2023 as recession fears peaked, the recent plateau presents optimism for the economy heading into the new year.
Why is employee confidence stabilizing? Employee concerns about job security may be softening. After a period of historically low layoff rates in 2021, discussions of layoffs in Glassdoor reviews began rising in mid-2022. The share of reviews that mention layoffs are now a tick below pre-pandemic levels, but more importantly, they have also fallen consecutively for the last 3 months, remaining at just 5% higher than last December. Discussion of recession has also declined sharply, down 51% year over year. Overall, improving economic conditions are likely helping rebuild confidence among concerned employees.
Employee Confidence by Industry
- Leisure and hospitality had the largest month-over-month increase in employee confidence, rising to 42.2% in December from 40.6% in November. Resilient consumer spending and travel amid the holiday season continues to improve the prospects for the sector.
- The Information sector, which includes tech and Hollywood, saw its first month-over-month increase since October 2022. Employee confidence remains sharply lower this year in the sector, but it may be close to bottoming out and we may see a rebound in Q1 as employers begin to hire in the new year.
- Professional and business services saw a solid increase in employee confidence to 54.5% after a difficult 2023. Consulting and B2B services experienced soft job markets along with tech, as employers cut workforces and trimmed hiring plans. This is another industry to watch for a rebound in 2024.
Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index by Industry
| Industry | Dec 2022 | Nov 2023 | Dec 2023 | MoM | YoY |
| Construction | 63.3% | 60.0% | 60.0% | 0.0% | -3.3% |
| Education and health services | 53.8% | 47.8% | 47.8% | 0.0% | -6.0% |
| Financial activities | 56.4% | 50.7% | 51.1% | 0.4% | -5.4% |
| Information | 58.6% | 48.2% | 48.7% | 0.5% | -9.9% |
| Leisure and hospitality | 46.8% | 40.6% | 42.2% | 1.6% | -4.5% |
| Manufacturing | 53.1% | 46.2% | 45.8% | -0.4% | -7.3% |
| Other services | 51.9% | 44.2% | 45.2% | 1.0% | -6.8% |
| Professional and business services | 62.3% | 53.7% | 54.5% | 0.8% | -7.8% |
| Public administration | 49.8% | 41.1% | 40.1% | -1.0% | -9.6% |
| Retail trade | 45.2% | 38.0% | 39.0% | 1.0% | -6.2% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 53.1% | 45.6% | 45.9% | 0.4% | -7.1% |
| Utilities | 60.9% | 55.3% | 56.1% | 0.7% | -4.8% |
| Wholesale trade | 54.8% | 49.0% | 48.9% | -0.1% | -5.9% |
Note: Industry-level data is the three-month trailing average of the index.
Employee Confidence by Seniority
Employee confidence jumped for senior employees in December, growing to 64.8% from 62.0% in November. While senior leaders are much more positive about their business’ growth prospects heading into the new year, the stronger optimism could translate into more aggressive hiring plans and budgets, giving more confidence to entry- and mid-level employees in 2024.
Methodology
The Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index is a new report that provides a real-time pulse on the economy from the lens of employees. As one of the world’s leading sites for insights on jobs and companies, Glassdoor collects tens of thousands of employee ratings of their employers’ six-month business outlook (rated as “positive”, “neutral” or “negative”) each month.
The index is the share of U.S. full-time and part-time employees who report a positive six-month business outlook for their employer. The index is reweighted to account for changes in the platform and by industry to match a nationally representative mix of employee ratings by industry. Data presented at the industry and seniority level are three-month trailing averages.
Data on the use of terms and phrases in Glassdoor reviews is not reweighted. Term usage is normalized by the total number of reviews in the month.
Data for December 2023 is current as of December 18, 2023. In subsequent updates, we will revise partial or preliminary data from previous months.
To read more about the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index, please read our launch paper.
Daniel Zhao
Daniel Zhao is Chief Economist at Glassdoor. On Glassdoor's Economic Research team, he has conducted research using Glassdoor's unique data on a variety of topics affecting job seekers and employers ranging from the health of the job market to pay transparency to employee engagement & retention. His work has been cited in publications like the New York Times, the Harvard Business Review and more. Prior to joining the Economic Research team, he also worked on improving the user experience for Glassdoor’s consumer jobs product and mobile app. He holds a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard College.
Tags:Labor MarketUnemployment
