Workers’ confidence in the US rebounded in the third quarter to its highest level since early 2017. After falling for the first time in a year during the second quarter, staffing provider Yoh and HRO Today magazine reported their quarterly Worker Confidence index rose by 3.1 points to a level of 107.4 in the third quarter — the highest level since the first quarter of 2017 and the second-highest reading in the index’s nearly four-year history.

“Businesses should be encouraged by the rebound seen in the Worker Confidence Index, which continues the overall upward trend we’ve seen since the end of 2015,” said Jonathan Grosso, senior VP, enterprise solution at Yoh. “However, that also means it can be more difficult to find and recruit passive job seekers in today’s ultra-competitive talent market.”

With highly skilled talent as scarce as ever, companies must work harder to attract and retain great talent, according to Grosso.

“Leaders must be proactive to ensure their workers are satisfied with their careers, trajectory and compensation,” he said. “As always, transparency and a willingness to have consistent, honest conversations with workers is the key to preemptively identifying and addressing any workplace issues.”

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 rose, led by a large increase in perceived likelihood of a promotion, which rose more than six points to 113.7. This follows a nearly 10-point dip in perceived likelihood of a promotion that occurred during Q2 2018. Each of the other three indices increased marginally.

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