Survey: Job seekers' confidence up

CHICAGO, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Job seekers are confident about landing a new position despite increased worries of a recession and rising energy prices, a U.S. job consultant reports.

Challenger, Gray and Christmas, an international outplacement consultancy based in Chicago, said job seekers remain optimistic about employment prospects based on a survey the firm conducted during its two-day free job search advice call-in.

The 500 survey participants during the 2007 call-in expressed more confidence about their future than in 2006, the company said in a release. In the 2006 event, 16 percent of job seekers thought they would find jobs within two months vs. 25 percent in 2007.

"Unless you were in an industry directly affected by the housing slump, such as real estate, construction or mortgage lending, you probably did not feel much impact from the downturn in that market," said John A. Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray and Christmas. "Outside of housing and a handful of other industries, 2007 was a good year, a fact which was reflected in job seeker optimism."

Fewer than 12 percent of callers thought their job searches would go beyond six months, a decrease from 16 percent in 2006, he said.