U.S. healthcare workers are more cautious when asked if they're likely to look for new jobs, but more confident in their ability to secure them if they had to, according to third quarter findings from the Randstad Healthcare Employee Confidence Index.

The online survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Randstad Healthcare showed that overall employee confidence declined by 0.5 points to 53.4 in the third quarter. The survey of 275 workers included physicians, healthcare administrators and other healthcare professionals.

"Despite a slight decrease among a few of the confidence measures, such as intentions to seek new employment and overall strength of the economy, the healthcare industry remains one of the fastest growing sectors," said Steve McMahan, executive vice president of Randstad US, Professionals. "The reality is that healthcare jobs will be in high demand for many years to come, due to an aging population, healthcare reform and technological advances. We believe the moderate dampening of confidence levels this quarter may be largely attributed to recent economic headlines looming around the potential fiscal cliff and stock market volatility."

In fact, according to a recent study released by Georgetown University's Center on Education and Workforce, the nation's overall number of healthcare workers will need to grow by nearly 30 percent by 2020 in order to meet demand – representing the biggest growth for any sector in the United States over the next 10 years. The report states that many economists predict the demand for healthcare employees will grow nearly twice as fast as the national economy. Also, more than 80 percent of these new healthcare jobs will require specialized training and post-secondary education, according to the report.

Q3, 2012 Survey Highlights

Fewer Healthcare Workers Believe More Jobs Are Available

• The number of healthcare workers who believe there are more jobs available decreased to 13 percent, a decline of 11 percentage points from the second quarter. Meanwhile, half of healthcare workers surveyed (54 percent) believe there are fewer job opportunities available, a slight uptick compared to the previous quarter.

Number of Healthcare Workers Likely to Job Search Shrinks

• Only 23 percent of healthcare workers say they are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months. This represents a drop of 14 percentage points from Q2 2012.

More Than Half of Healthcare Workers Surveyed Believe They Can Find a New Job

• More than half of healthcare works surveyed (55 percent) indicated they are confident they could find a job in the next 12 months (versus 51 percent in Q2 2012).

Boost in Employer Confidence Among Healthcare Workers

• A majority of healthcare workers (68 percent) feel confident in the future of their company. This number rose by 10 percentage points from the previous quarter.

Confidence in the Economy's Strength Remains Steady

• Forty-four percent of healthcare workers believe the economy is weakening, an increase of one percentage point from second quarter 2012. Only 20 percent of healthcare workers believe the economy is getting stronger, showing no change from September's readings.

To view the latest quarterly trends report, click here.