Americans are concerned about inflation, pessimistic about the economy as a whole, and angry at the way their leaders are handling it. But they are still quite comfortable in the job market.
Fifty-two percent of Americans say now is a good time to find a job, compared with just 11 percent who say it’s a bad time, according to a poll published last month by online research firm Momentive New York Times was conducted. (The rest say the situation is “mixed” or didn’t answer the question.) Fifty-six percent say the job market is more favorable for workers than employers, and a majority think these conditions will last for at least six months.
Nor are most Americans concerned that their jobs are at risk. 44 percent of those surveyed said they were concerned they or a member of their household would be made redundant in the next few months, up only slightly from 37 percent just before the pandemic.
“People still see the job market as a little bright spot,” said Brianna Richardson, a research scientist at Momentive.
The rosy job prospects stand in striking contrast to Americans’ capitalized views of the economy. More than 90 percent of respondents said they were concerned about inflation, and a majority said they were worse off financially than a year earlier. Only 17 percent said general business conditions in the country were fair or very good.
Ms Richardson said the results suggested bad news about inflation eclipsed good news about jobs in Americans’ perceptions of the economy. The same seems to be true of their own finances: although they see it as a worker-friendly job market, most workers say they haven’t gotten raises to keep up with rising prices.
Americans are skeptical about the way the White House and Federal Reserve have dealt with inflation, even though the poll was conducted before Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia signed into law what Democrats say it is would help reduce inflation. But respondents don’t necessarily think Republicans would do better. Forty-four percent of respondents said they thought Democrats would do a better job on the economy, versus 47 percent who favored Republicans on the issue. These numbers have hardly changed since the last question was asked in May 2019.
About the Survey: The data in this article is from an online survey of 5,881 adults conducted by polling firm Momentive July 18-25. The company randomly selected respondents from the more than two million people who take polls on its platform each day. Responses were weighted to reflect the demographic profile of the United States population. The survey has a modeled error estimate (similar to a margin of error in a standard telephone survey) of plus or minus two percentage points, so differences less than this amount are statistically insignificant.
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