Americans Pessimistic about Employment

September 1, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A recent Harris poll finds two-thirds of Americans (66%) say the current job market of their region is bad.

Twenty-two percent of respondents say it is neither good nor bad, and only 12% say it is good.  

According to a press release, by region, those in the Midwest and West are feeling these employment problems the most. Seven in ten Westerners (71%) and Midwesterners (70%) say the current job market is bad. The job market in the East seems the “best” as almost one in five Easterners (17%) say it is good while three in five (60%) say it is bad.  

When asked how they think the job market in their region will change in the next six months, over one-quarter of U.S. adults (27%) say it will get worse, half (49%) believe it will remain the same and under one-quarter (23%) believe it will get better. By comparison, in June, just over one-quarter of U.S. adults (26%) said they thought the job market in their region would be better, over half (53%) thought it would remain the same and one in five (21%) believed it would get worse, the announcement said.  

Two in five U.S. adults (38%) say they are concerned that the main income earner in their household will be unemployed in the next six months, with 16% saying they are very concerned and 22% saying they are somewhat concerned. However, three in five (62%) are not concerned, with one-third of Americans (32%) saying they are not at all concerned that the income earner in their household will lose their job in the next six months.  

The Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between August 9 to 16, 2010, among 2,775 adults (aged 18 and over).

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