Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index: Rebound from record low
Daniel Zhao
Chief Economist at Glassdoor | Jul 8, 2026
Employee confidence improved slightly in June, rebounding from the record low in May, according to the latest data from the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index. The share of employees reporting a positive 6-month business outlook rose to 44%, an increase from 43.7% in May. The modest improvement comes alongside cautious optimism that energy prices may have peaked and started to decline as the U.S. and Iran navigate a fragile ceasefire.
Employee confidence by industry
- Construction, repair & maintenance services (-2.5 percentage points year-over-year) and real estate (-4.3 percentage points) are also seeing declines in employee confidence. Rising interest rates over the last few months may be putting a damper on enthusiasm in the housing market.
- As energy prices start to fall from their recent peaks, employees in energy, mining & utilities are seeing a short-term decline in employee confidence (-3.7 percentage points month-over-month) even as they remain more optimistic over the year (+1.8 percentage points year-over-year).
- Hotels & travel accommodation have seen employee confidence drop sharply over the last year (-11.5 percentage points). Despite the World Cup providing a boost of travelers this June, employee sentiment remains sharply down.
Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index by Industry
| Industry | Jun 2025 | May 2026 | Jun 2026 | MoM | YoY |
| Aerospace & Defense | 53.8% | 49.1% | 47.7% | -1.5% | -6.2% |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 35.6% | 37.7% | 36.6% | -1.1% | 0.9% |
| Construction, Repair & Maintenance Services | 54.9% | 53.1% | 52.4% | -0.8% | -2.5% |
| Education | 44.5% | 45.5% | 44.4% | -1.2% | -0.2% |
| Energy, Mining & Utilities | 48.2% | 53.6% | 49.9% | -3.7% | 1.8% |
| Financial Services | 53.5% | 52.4% | 50.2% | -2.2% | -3.2% |
| Government & Public Administration | 35.3% | 43.7% | 44.5% | 0.8% | 9.2% |
| Healthcare | 50.8% | 47.6% | 47.0% | -0.6% | -3.8% |
| Hotels & Travel Accommodation | 50.0% | 39.6% | 38.5% | -1.1% | -11.5% |
| Human Resources & Staffing | 54.8% | 53.3% | 54.7% | 1.4% | -0.1% |
| Information Technology | 51.6% | 44.5% | 44.0% | -0.5% | -7.6% |
| Insurance | 55.2% | 47.7% | 46.9% | -0.7% | -8.2% |
| Legal | 47.9% | 46.6% | 49.2% | 2.6% | 1.3% |
| Management & Consulting | 46.7% | 45.2% | 44.7% | -0.6% | -2.0% |
| Manufacturing | 39.0% | 40.5% | 40.4% | 0.0% | 1.4% |
| Media & Communication | 43.3% | 39.3% | 40.6% | 1.2% | -2.7% |
| Nonprofit & NGO | 43.2% | 38.7% | 38.4% | -0.3% | -4.8% |
| Personal Consumer Services | 43.6% | 37.3% | 38.4% | 1.1% | -5.3% |
| Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology | 38.4% | 36.5% | 38.0% | 1.5% | -0.4% |
| Real Estate | 58.1% | 54.3% | 53.9% | -0.5% | -4.3% |
| Restaurants & Food Service | 35.7% | 36.1% | 33.4% | -2.7% | -2.3% |
| Retail & Wholesale | 37.9% | 37.1% | 36.4% | -0.7% | -1.5% |
| Telecommunications | 42.4% | 35.7% | 33.2% | -2.5% | -9.2% |
| Transportation & Logistics | 39.3% | 42.2% | 45.2% | 3.0% | 5.9% |
Employee confidence by seniority
Entry level employee confidence improved slightly in June, rising 0.9 percentage points month-over-month but still remains down 1.8 percentage points year-over-year. Senior level employees saw a reversal in the jump in confidence from May, ending up 2.1 percentage points down year-over-year. Mid level employees, however, have seen some improvement over the last year, with confidence improving 1.6 percentage points compared to last June.
Methodology
The Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index is a new report that provides a real-time pulse on the economy from the lens of employees. As one of the world’s leading sites for insights on jobs and companies, Glassdoor collects tens of thousands of employee ratings of their employers’ six-month business outlook (rated as “positive”, “neutral” or “negative”) each month.
The index is the share of U.S. full-time and part-time employees who report a positive six-month business outlook for their employer. The index is reweighted to account for changes in the platform and by industry to match a nationally representative mix of employee ratings by industry. Data presented at the industry and seniority level are three-month trailing averages.
Data for June 2026 is updated through June 29, 2026. In subsequent updates, we will revise partial or preliminary data from previous months.
To read more about the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index, please read our launch paper.
An Excel file containing the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index data is available here.
Daniel Zhao
Daniel Zhao is Chief Economist at Glassdoor. On Glassdoor's Economic Research team, he has conducted research using Glassdoor's unique data on a variety of topics affecting job seekers and employers ranging from the health of the job market to pay transparency to employee engagement & retention. His work has been cited in publications like the New York Times, the Harvard Business Review and more. Prior to joining the Economic Research team, he also worked on improving the user experience for Glassdoor’s consumer jobs product and mobile app. He holds a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard College.
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