Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index: Warming after February freeze
Daniel Zhao
Chief Economist at Glassdoor | Apr 7, 2026
Employee confidence improved in March, despite the uncertainty hanging over the economy, according to the latest data from the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index. The share of employees reporting a positive 6-month business outlook jumped to 47.1% in March 2026, an improvement from 44.8% in February 2026 (revised up from 44.3%).
Employee confidence appears to be largely unaffected by the U.S.-Iran war, perhaps because its impacts on energy prices and inflation have not yet trickled through the economy. Confidence may also be rebounding from weak sentiment in February, which was consistent with the surprisingly soft jobs report and JOLTS data.
Employee confidence by industry
- The largest improvement in employee outlook came in energy, mining & utilities (+3 percentage points month-over-month). The energy industry may benefit from higher prices in the short-term due to the U.S.-Iran war, though the impacts are difficult to predict as the interconnected global supply chain for petroleum and petroleum products is disrupted.
- Hotels & travel accommodation (-0.3 percentage points month-over-month), transportation & logistics (+0.6 percentage points), and aerospace & defense (+0.2 percentage points) are other industries that may be more directly exposed to higher fuel prices, but appear to show little impact from the U.S.-Iran war so far.
- The tech industry is still the industry that has seen the largest drop in employee confidence over the last year (-6.8 percentage points year-over-year, -1 percentage point month-over-month). AI and data center investment have done little to buoy employee sentiment as layoffs and sluggish hiring continue to depress the sector.
Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index by Industry
| Industry | Mar 2025 | Feb 2026 | Mar 2026 | MoM | YoY |
| Aerospace & Defense | 47.7% | 49.1% | 49.3% | 0.2% | 1.6% |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 35.2% | 36.1% | 37.2% | 1.1% | 2.0% |
| Construction, Repair & Maintenance Services | 52.3% | 55.0% | 56.0% | 1.0% | 3.7% |
| Education | 48.4% | 50.0% | 48.5% | -1.5% | 0.1% |
| Energy, Mining & Utilities | 49.6% | 51.0% | 54.0% | 3.0% | 4.4% |
| Financial Services | 50.3% | 52.8% | 53.3% | 0.4% | 3.0% |
| Government & Public Administration | 38.3% | 39.7% | 41.2% | 1.5% | 2.9% |
| Healthcare | 50.4% | 50.2% | 49.3% | -0.8% | -1.0% |
| Hotels & Travel Accommodation | 45.0% | 45.8% | 45.5% | -0.3% | 0.5% |
| Human Resources & Staffing | 57.9% | 55.1% | 53.7% | -1.4% | -4.2% |
| Information Technology | 54.0% | 48.1% | 47.2% | -1.0% | -6.8% |
| Insurance | 54.6% | 53.4% | 52.6% | -0.8% | -2.0% |
| Legal | 55.9% | 60.7% | 58.2% | -2.6% | 2.3% |
| Management & Consulting | 48.6% | 47.7% | 47.7% | 0.0% | -0.9% |
| Manufacturing | 41.3% | 40.4% | 41.4% | 1.0% | 0.1% |
| Media & Communication | 42.2% | 41.3% | 39.9% | -1.4% | -2.3% |
| Nonprofit & NGO | 44.6% | 41.8% | 41.8% | 0.0% | -2.8% |
| Personal Consumer Services | 41.2% | 40.2% | 40.3% | 0.1% | -0.9% |
| Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology | 41.4% | 43.6% | 41.6% | -2.0% | 0.2% |
| Real Estate | 57.7% | 54.9% | 55.0% | 0.2% | -2.6% |
| Restaurants & Food Service | 37.6% | 35.6% | 37.8% | 2.2% | 0.3% |
| Retail & Wholesale | 38.2% | 41.2% | 40.8% | -0.4% | 2.5% |
| Telecommunications | 43.2% | 37.9% | 40.6% | 2.7% | -2.6% |
| Transportation & Logistics | 44.1% | 42.7% | 43.3% | 0.6% | -0.8% |
Employee confidence by seniority
Entry level confidence remains subdued, falling 0.2 percentage points in March to 44.8%. While employee confidence for entry level workers has improved by 1.1 percentage points over the last year, the level has remained low since 2023 as entry level workers feel frozen out of opportunities to advance their career. Mid level employee confidence improved slightly in March (+0.4 percentage points month-over-month, +2.8 percentage points year-over-year). Senior level employee confidence improved significantly in March, rising 1.6 percentage points but remains 2.3 percentage points below a year ago in March 2025.
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 March 2026 is updated through March 28, 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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