American Pessimism About Jobs Grows

An improvement in unemployment numbers for the past two months and an increase in third-quarter GDP should help encourage Americans about their job security. Yet that has not been the case. If anything, Americans have become more concerned about their employment situation. Beneath some overall good news about the broad economy is a continued worry by individuals that the jobs market has worsened as much as it did during the recession.

A new Gallup poll shows that “Americans’ assessments of the job market worsened in November and are now the most pessimistic they have been in the past decade. Nine in 10 Americans say it is a ‘bad time’ to find a quality job, while 8% think it is a ‘good time.’”

The effects of the assessment will continue to feed the spiral of job concerns and its relationship to consumer spending. The 2007 to 2009 recession demonstrated clearly that people worried about their futures buy little more than what is essential for them to live. People with some discretionary income often use it to pay down debt, or they save it for retirement or, if needed, another recession. The spiral effect worsens as more people stay out of work for a year or more. Those who are employed believe that those who are not will struggle to find work — perhaps for years.

Congress and the Obama administration are  left with the challenge of buoying the mood of America’s workers and consumers. The effort to institute sharp reductions in the federal deficit are unlikely to do that. The hope that a major jobs program will be passed has disappeared. That leaves the unemployed and employed alike to struggle with their worries. If the federal government cannot change perceptions, that leaves a void in creating optimism.

People who should view their work future as brighter because of news about an economic improvement do not. As many have said, the recession is not over for the average American.

Methodology: Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews with 1,012 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Nov. 3 to 6, 2011. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of error is ±4 percentage points.

Douglas A. McIntyre