ATTENTION EDITORS: A panel discussion with Dr. Greg Weeks of the Employment Security Department of Washington State, Seattle University economics professor Dr. Chris Weber, career transition coach Maureen Moriarty, and Everest College's Regional Vice President of Northwest Operations Randy Rogers, will be held today at 10 a.m. PDT to discuss the survey's findings. To listen live, please visit http://news.everest.edu/ and click on the Washington State Workplace Confidence Survey link or call 877-703-7251 or 404- 537-3278 (international). The conference ID number is 92511560. Questions may be posed to panelists in advance by emailing them to moderator Evan Pondel at epondel@pondel.com. A telephonic replay of the panel will be available through 05/05/2009 and can be accessed at 800-642-1687 or 706-645-9291 (international) using the same conference ID number.

The sharp rise in unemployment, coupled with fears about the economic slump worsening, is having a negative effect on employees' workplace confidence, even though many are still gainfully employed.

Conducted by Harris/Decima and sponsored by Everest College, the survey found that 40% of Washington workers ages 18 and over across almost all income brackets and levels of education are concerned about loss of employment.

"With mounting job uncertainty, many people are evaluating their careers and searching for options to improve their job prospects," said Randy Rogers, Everest College's regional vice president of Northwest operations. "For some, education is the answer.

"We've seen a dramatic enrollment increase of about 13% at our campuses in the past 15 months because our programs target high- demand fields like healthcare," Rogers said. "Despite the recession, more people are attending institutions such as Everest College to gain the necessary job skills to increase their job prospects."

At the same time, workplace anxiety levels are on the rise with nearly two-thirds (65%) of survey respondents claiming they suffer some form of work-related stress. Respondents site pay (23%) and job loss (22%) as the two top stress factors.

"You may have a job right now, yet feel trapped and unable to explore other opportunities because the job market is so tight," said Rogers, also noting that if nothing stood in Washingtonians' way, four out of 10 survey respondents said they would change their careers.