Job Security Still a Big Concern for Many

A news release about the survey from SnagAJob.com, a job Web site, said 35% of respondents cited job insecurity as a key concern (though that was down from more than 50% a year earlier). Nine percent listed fear of losing their job as their No. 1 long-term concern, up from 3% in 2007.

According to the announcement, 11% of men are concerned about their ability to keep their jobs, up from 4% four years ago. Similarly, “families and how they will be cared for” was selected as a No. 1 long-term concern by 24% of men in this year’s study, a jump of eight points in four years.

But not everyone is anxiety-ridden in the workplace, the news release said. Forty percent of respondents say they feel more secure in their job than a year ago, up 11% from a year earlier.

“Overall, employed Americans are breathing a bit easier at work because they’ve generally lost that sense that the other shoe is about to drop and they may be out of a job – assuming it hasn’t happened already,” said Shawn Boyer, CEO of SnagAJob.com, in the news release. “However, some unease still exists because many Americans want to see more positive signs in the economy in order to be confident in a rebound.”

Other survey findings include:

• Two in 10 respondents reported changing jobs in the last year, the same as the year before.  Of those who did so, 34% were laid off or dismissed from their prior company, and 31% found a new job by choice.
• Thirty percent said they are thinking of proactively changing jobs in the near future. Workers ages 18-to-34 years old are more likely to make a job change (47%) than workers ages 35-to-54 years old (24%).  Women (65%) are more likely than men (57%) to be happy in their current job.

SnagAJob.com’s fourth annual Labor Happiness Index, conducted July 8-26, 2010, by Ipsos Public Affairs, was culled from a nationally representative sample of 1,000 randomly-selected working adults ages 18 and over residing in the United States.