The Kenexa Research Institute Finds That Many Employees Are Confident They Will Land on Their Feet if They Lose Their Job

WAYNE, PA--(Marketwire - November 13, 2008) - In these turbulent times with layoffs and downsizings, there is an increasing level of uncertainty among employees regarding job security. The Kenexa Research Institute (KRI) explored just how confident employees in the United States are about their being able to find a similar job in another organization. In other words, if they lose their job, do they feel their skills and experiences would allow them to land on their feet?

The results from a randomly selected group of more than 16,000 workers from 12 countries indicate that employees in Russia (81%) and India (80%) have the highest overall confidence in their ability to find a similar job, followed by those in Brazil (76%), Canada (75%) and France (73%). Those in Japan (40%) are the least confident.

As recently as the end of September 2008, in the United States, seven out of 10 employees felt that they would be able to find another job that uses their skills and experiences. Those findings were similar to the June 2008 report (68%).

Those working in the healthcare services (82%), hotel/lodging services (80%) and high-tech manufacturing (79%) industries are the most likely to believe that other organizations are hiring people with their skills and experiences. On the other hand, employees in the transportation services (64%), heavy manufacturing (61%) and light manufacturing, (54%) industries are the least likely to feel organizations are hiring people with their skills and experience.

American workers in service jobs (77%), professionals (75%) and senior managers (74%) were the most confident about being able to find another job that uses their skills and experiences; clerical workers (64%), crafts/skilled trades (63%) and laborers (55%) were the least confident.

Jeffrey Saltzman, a principal and industrial psychologist at Kenexa, stated, "These results are very revealing and consistent with the larger United States marketplace trends that are now emerging. However, some industry sectors are more resilient to the current economic downturn, at least for now. For instance, an economic downturn does not diminish the need people have for healthcare. This explains the positive findings of those in the healthcare industry regarding their ability to find another job if necessary."

Saltzman continued, "In contrast, employees in the manufacturing and construction industries were the first to feel the pain of high energy prices and the housing bust, as well as a business climate that is the worst it has been in almost two decades. These workers are seeing not only their organizations' production activity strongly reduced, but are starting to see layoffs become common practice. The retail industry is also in a downturn, with more than 300,000 jobs lost since November 2007. Employees in the retail industry are feeling this change and are only indicating a moderate level of confidence that organizations would hire someone with their skills and experiences (70%).

This study was part of a larger quarterly study that Kenexa undertakes to measure business conditions in major markets. Kenexa has an unequalled database of worldwide employee survey results from workers in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States that allows the company to provide exceptional insights to organizations of all sizes on a global basis. This business-critical information enables international organizations to better maximize their overall performance.

About Kenexa

Kenexa (NASDAQ: KNXA) is a global leader in building the world's greatest workforces using a combination of software, employee research science and business process optimization. Kenexa's global solutions include applicant tracking, onboarding, recruitment process outsourcing, employment branding, skills and behavioral assessments, structured interviews, performance management, multi-rater feedback surveys, employee engagement surveys and HR Analytics. Kenexa is headquartered in Wayne, Pa. (outside Philadelphia). Additional information about Kenexa and its global products and services can be accessed at www.kenexa.com.