American Attitudes on Finding “Quality” Jobs Improves but Remains Low

 A new Gallup poll on the perceptions of American workers and their prospects for finding a quality job has found that 27 percent feel that they could find a quality job if they searched for one. And while this is an improvement over severe lows over recent years, the number remains alarmingly low.

“The fact that 70 percent of Americans continue to say it is not a good time to find a quality job is an important indicator of the still-shaky nature of the U.S. economy,” Gallup said in a news release. “The current perception that it’s not a good time to be looking for a job can translate into restraints on consumer spending, major economic commitments, moving, and other actions that could stimulate the economy.”

When this Gallup survey began in 2001 optimism was high (about 40 percent) and reached a peak at nearly 50 percent in 2007, at the height of the real estate boom. Perceptions then plunged to 30 percent in 2008, bottoming out at 8 percent during the recession. Results from a 2000 University of Connecticut survey found that 78 percent of participants felt it was a good time to find a quality job.

“Thus, while the current results on this measure are more positive than the recent lows, they are far more negative than at times in the past, and continue to reflect Americans’ generally pessimistic views of the U.S. job market,” Gallup said.