Survey Says Workers Staying Put For Now

An April report by Accountemps, the Menlo Park, Calif., staffing service for accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals, said that even if the economy improves in the next six months, most workers will not be jumping back into the employment market.

Accountemps, which operates a Fayetteville office, found that 65 percent of the participants in the nationwide poll are not likely to change jobs soon. The poll sampled 630 randomly selected people in the United States age 18 or older who are employed either full or part time.

Fifty-two percent said it was “very unlikely” they would job hop. But more than one-third (34 percent) of the respondents said they might change jobs if the economy picks up.

Only 20 percent of workers in households that earn $75,000 and up would consider leaving their positions, but 47 percent of those making under $25,000 annually said they would look for new work.

Statistics compiled by the Arkansas Employment Security Department show improved employment figures in February for Northwest Arkansas. Benton County’s unemployment rate was 2.4 percent compared with 2.5 percent in January and 2.8 percent in February 2002. Washington County’s unemployment rate in February for the last two years was the same, 2.8 percent, compared with 2.9 percent this January.