The Randstad Manufacturing Employee Confidence Index rose 0.9 points to 54.6 in the second quarter of 2013. Additionally, manufacturing came in with the highest job transition index out of all industries examined by Randstad in the second quarter, with 44 percent of manufacturing workers saying they are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months, an 18 percentage-point increase from the previous quarter.

Notably, the previous quarter’s job transition index was the lowest rating since 2005, at 26 percent.

“This quarter’s report underscores that manufacturing workers have a real sense of optimism about the number of career opportunities that exist today,” said Phyllis Finley, executive vice president at Randstad US. “In fact, figures this high have not been reported since well before the 2008 recession, and we believe this increase has a direct correlation to employees' confidence in the overall economic recovery. Given this environment, employers need to deploy targeted engagement strategies that keep talent from taking other attractive offers.”

Twenty-eight percent of manufacturing workers believe there are more jobs available, up seven percentage points from 21 percent in the first quarter. And the percentage of manufacturing workers who are confident in their ability to find a new job also rose slightly to 44 percent from 42 percent in the previous quarter.

Twenty-nine percent of manufacturing workers believe the economy is getting stronger, an uptick from 28 percent in the first quarter, and the percentage of workers that say the economy is getting weaker fell four percentage points to 39 percent from 45 percent in the previous quarter.

The index is based on an online survey of 192 U.S. manufacturing workers conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Randstad during April, May and June 2013.