Employee sentiment improved in October

The ADP Research Employee Motivation and Commitment Index, which tracks how U.S. workers think and feel about their jobs, improved for the second month, gaining four points to close at 131 in October.

Industry

The improvement in worker sentiment was broad-based, with 15 of the 19 sectors we measure gaining ground.

Education posted the biggest gain, climbing 24 points to 136, its largest month-over-month increase in data dating back to March 2022. The mining industry, which had been sliding since April, jumped 19 points to 109. Agriculture rose 16 points to 113, its largest monthly increase since we began tracking the industry in August 2024.

Utilities fell for the first time in seven months, sliding 10 points to 69.

Worker type

Sentiment improved for knowledge workers, a group that added 4 points to 122, and repetitive task workers, which climbed 2 points to 115. Sentiment among skilled task workers was little changed, rising 1 point to 126.

The sentiment gap between worker types was at its narrowest point since October 2022.

Employer size

Sentiment climbed in five of our seven employer size categories, with organizations of 1,000 or more workers posting the largest increases.

Organizations with 1,000 to 2,499 workers saw the largest gain, jumping 12 points to 120, the group’s best reading since January.

Note: This month’s survey was fielded October 1 to 9, 2026. ADP Research publishes the EMC Index on the third Tuesday of every month. The next release will be November 17.