Workers’ confidence in the US remained relatively stable in the fourth quarter. After rebounding during the third quarter to its highest level since early 2017, staffing provider Yoh and HRO Today magazine reported their quarterly Worker Confidence index rose 2.6 points on a year-over-year basis to a level of 107.1 in the fourth quarter; however, the index edged down 0.3 points from the prior quarter.

“Despite some ups and downs during the past 12 months, 2018 was an encouraging year for businesses and their employees as evidenced by the latest WCI results,” said Jonathan Grosso, Yoh’s senior VP, enterprise solutions. “However, with workers feeling more confident in their careers, it does mean that highly skilled and available talent is becoming more and more scarce.”

Because of this, employers must work harder to retain their talented staff.

“Through appropriate compensation, company culture and workplace transparency, managers must actively ensure that their workers are satisfied with their careers,” Grosso said.

Yoh’s index measures workers’ perceptions of four drivers of worker confidence: the perceived likelihood of job loss, the perceived likelihood of a promotion, the perceived likelihood of a raise, and the perceived overall trust in company leadership. All four of the WCI’s key drivers reported mixed results.

For the year overall, only trust in company leadership saw a decline, to 103.3 in the fourth quarter from 105.1 in the year-ago quarter. Each of the other three reported increases in 2018 compared to 2017, with perceived likelihood of a promotion increasing by more than 5 points year over year. Perceived job security and perceived likelihood of a raise rose by 2.9 points and 4.2 points year over year, respectively.

The survey series includes approximately 3,000 people ages 18 and older working full-time in the US.