May 25, 2022
Megan Brenan
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With the U.S. unemployment rate steady at a historically low 3.6%, 71% of Americans say it is a good time to find a quality job, and those who are employed largely feel secure in their jobs. Even if they were to lose their jobs, a solid majority of U.S. workers believe they would find a position that is equally as good.
Americans' latest positive assessments of the U.S. job market, from Gallup's April 1-19 poll, are just three percentage points shy of the 21-year high of 74% recorded last October. The percentage of U.S. adults saying it is a good time to find a quality job has been steadily above 70% since last August, which is considerably higher than the 22% to 43% range found throughout the first year of the pandemic.
Recent ratings of the job market surpass the 68% of Americans who were optimistic about it in January 2020, before COVID-19 forced the closure of many businesses and the unemployment rate spiked.
While majorities of all major demographic subgroups say it is a good time to find a quality job, U.S. adults with college degrees (79%) are more likely than those without (68%) to say the job market is good. Likewise, those with annual household incomes of at least $75,000 are more likely than those with lower incomes to assess the job market positively -- 79% vs. 67%. Partisans' views are slightly less divergent, as 77% of Democrats and 70% of both Republicans and independents say it is a good time to find a quality job.
Just two years ago, at the start of the pandemic, a record-high 25% of workers said it was "very" or "fairly likely" that they would become unemployed in the coming year, but that reading shrank to 13% last year and is currently 15%. The large majority now say losing their job is "not too" (30%) or "not at all likely" (55%).
Female workers are less secure than male workers in their jobs, as are adults without a college degree compared with those who have one. Similarly, U.S. workers with annual household incomes under $75,000 are more likely than those earning more to expect to lose their jobs. These differences have often been seen in previous readings.
Just as employed U.S. adults are largely confident that they will not lose their jobs in the next year, most think that if they did, they could find a job as good as their current position. In all, 31% say it is "very" and 32% "somewhat likely," while 21% think it is "not too" and 15% "not at all likely" that they would find such a job.
These opinions are similar to what Gallup measured in 2016, the last time the question was asked. The lack of change is notable, given that many fewer people in 2016 than now said it was a good time to find a quality job, and this may reflect more fundamental attitudes people hold about their employability or job-seeking skills that aren't tied to the economy.
Again, opinions diverge based on education and income levels. College graduates and those with annual household incomes of at least $75,000 are more likely than their counterparts to think they could find a job equal to their current position if they became unemployed.
High inflation and gas prices are top-of-mind concerns for Americans as they are increasingly struggling to make ends meet. However, the nation's low unemployment rate is keeping views of the U.S. job market mostly positive.
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