Workers’ job market gloom has increased dramatically over past few years, Gallup survey finds

WASHINGTON, March 24, (AP): Americans' outlook on the job market has turned increasingly pessimistic, a surprisingly negative shift given the low unemployment rate but one that likely reflects an ongoing hiring drought. Just 28% of workers in a quarterly Gallup survey conducted late last year said now is a "good time” to find a quality job, with 72% saying it is a bad time.

Those figures are a sharp reversal from just a few years ago, in mid-2022, when 70% said it was a good time. Americans have quickly gotten more pessimistic: As recently as late 2024, just under half of workers still said it was a good time to search for a job. The current survey was conducted during the final three months of 2025, long before the Iran war that has sent oil and gas prices soaring and threatens to slow the economy as Americans redirect more of their dollars to filling gas tanks and away from other spending.

The figures help explain other surveys that show Americans have a largely bleak view of the economy, even as many headline measures suggest it has been growing and job losses are low. Job pessimism is especially pronounced among college graduates. The shift is likely because hiring in many white-collar professions has been unusually weak for the past two years, in areas such as software, customer service and advertising.

The survey found a split based on education levels, with just 19% of workers with a college degree thinking that now is a good time to find a quality job, while 35% of workers without a college degree are optimistic. A separate Gallup survey of US adults overall found that college graduates' optimism about the job market is the lowest it's been since 2013.

Meanwhile, the gap in job market sentiment between Americans with and without a college degree was at its widest in that survey since Gallup started asking the question in 2001. Just about 2 in 10 workers ages 18-34 think now is a good time to find a job, compared to about 4 in 10 workers ages 65 and older who say the same.

Gallup’s survey is consistent with what economists call the "low-hire, low-fire” job market: Businesses are largely holding onto their workers and measures of layoffs remain quite low. As a result, older workers are largely secure in their jobs. But hiring is also quite sluggish, making it harder for younger workers to break in and find permanent work. It also found that younger workers are much likelier than older workers to say they're actively looking for a new job or watching for opportunities.