The ADP Research Employee Motivation and Commitment Index, which tracks how U.S. workers think and feel about their jobs, weakened for the third straight month, shedding a point to close at 129 in July.

Sentiment lost ground in six of the 10 industries we track. Educational services, which has been trending downward since April, showed the biggest decline, falling 18 points to 113, its lowest reading since May 2024, and its largest monthly drop since we began measuring the index in March 2022.

Information fell for the third month, shedding 14 points to 115, its lowest reading since June 2024. Real estate dropped 13 points to 104. Health care and social assistance fell to 114, its lowest reading since March 2024.

Manufacturing rose for the third month, climbing 11 points to 195. Retail and wholesale trade also rose for the third month, gaining 4 points to 139, its highest reading since December.

Among work types, sentiment among repetitive task workers rose 3 points to 112, while skilled task worker sentiment fell 3 points to 125. Knowledge worker sentiment gained 1 point to 123 and has been holding relatively steady since January.

At employers with 1,000 to 2,499 workers, sentiment fell for the third month, shedding 6 points to 101, the group’s lowest reading since April 2025. Employers with 51 to 149 workers showed the largest increase, rising 5 points to 114, the highest reading since January.

"People working in education helped push the index lower this month,” said Dr. Mary Hayes, research director of People and Performance at ADP Research. “Other industries gained but couldn’t overcome diminished motivation by teachers and school administrators.”

About the EMC Index

The Employee Motivation and Commitment Index tracks how people think and feel about their jobs and employers. ADP Research uses a panel survey to gather a stratified, random panel sample of 2,500 U.S. workers each month. This month’s survey was fielded July 1 to 11, 2026.

We identify respondents by work type based on their choice of three options:

• I have a level of freedom to use my expertise to create something new. (Our definition of knowledge worker.)
• I use a level of expertise to solve similar problems each day. (Our definition of skilled task worker.)
• I do similar repetitive tasks each day. (Our definition of repetitive task worker.)

By providing a real-time measure of the state of worker allegiance, the index can tell us whether people are flourishing in their jobs or detaching. ADP Research publishes the EMC Index on the third Tuesday of every month. The next release will be August 18.