Heigh, ho, it’s off to work we go
By Karlyn Bowman, Heather Sims, Eleanor O’Neil
Every year around Labor Day, we examine the public’s attitudes about work. AEI’s Public Opinion Study, The State of the American Worker 2016: Attitudes About Work in America, is the largest public compilation of polls on satisfaction with work, job anxiety, work-life balance, and other aspects of having and keeping a job.
Concerns about the economy’s sluggish recovery still linger, but workers are less anxious about job security than in 2009 and 2010. These worries still make headlines, but they are only part of the story. Large majorities of workers express strong satisfaction with their work and specific aspects of it. Overall, workers are highly satisfied with their jobs, where they work, and their work-life balance. This Labor Day, most people will be enjoying a day off, but they won’t be dreading returning to work either.
SATISFACTION
Earlier this week, Gallup released its annual battery of questions examining worker satisfaction. How satisfied are we? Solid majorities or pluralities are COMPLETELY satisfied in 11 of 13 areas:
- Workplace safety: 76% completely satisfied, 17% somewhat satisfied
- Relations with coworkers: 71% completely, 23% somewhat
- Flexibility of hours: 67% completely, 23% somewhat
- Job security: 65% completely, 22% somewhat
- Their boss: 61% completely, 23% somewhat
- The amount of work required of them: 58% completely, 28% somewhat
- Amount of vacation time: 56% completely, 24% somewhat
- Work place recognition: 55% completely, 30% somewhat
- Employer’s retirement plan: 44% completely, 24% somewhat
- Chances for promotion: 43% completely, 29% somewhat
- Salary or paycheck: 41% completely, 35% somewhat
- Health insurance benefits: 37% completely, 28% somewhat
- On-the-job stress: 34% completely, 36% somewhat
Only three areas saw a decrease in satisfaction from last year: relations with coworkers, amount of vacation time, and health insurance benefits. The decreases were minimal, between one and three percent.
JOB SECURITY AND ANXIETY
The substantial anxiety Americans felt about employment after the 2008 crash appears to have eased. The polls from that time remind us how deep the worry was. Between 2008 and 2009, concern about:
- Having wages reduced doubled (16 to 32%)
- Having hours cut back doubled (14 to 27%)
- Being laid off doubled (15 to 31%)
Today, the numbers show improvement:
- 22% worry about being laid off.
- 65% are completely satisfied with their job security.
- 43%, up from an all-time low of 10% in March 2010, say plenty of jobs are available in their communities; 49% say they are hard to find.
SIGNIFICANT SENTIMENTS
Other polls examine different views about work in America, including additional insecurities about work and people’s work-life balance. We have included some of these attitudes below.
- Outsourcing: Eighteen percent have a close friend or relative who lost a job because it was moved overseas; the vast majority (81%) do not. In 2015, only 9% said they were worried that their company would move jobs overseas.
- Better days ahead? People are divided when it comes to the availability of good jobs for American workers. In July 2016, 47% of registered voters said the best years are behind us; 47% said they’re yet to come.
- The boss, male or female? A plurality (45%) say it makes no difference to them if they work for a man or a woman, while 30% would prefer a male and 24% a female. More men (58%) say it would make no difference. Women’s opinions are more split, though a male boss receives the highest response at 39%.
- Work and family: If they could do either (a big “if” for most people), a majority (63%) would prefer to have a job than to stay home and take care of their house and family. Seventy-three percent of men and 53% of women gave that response.
- Leisure time: In 1973 and again in 2014, 68% said they would continue to work even if they were able to live as comfortably as they would like for the rest of their lives. Over half (52%) say they have enough time to do what they want, while 48% say they don’t have enough time.
For an in-depth look at attitudes about economic insecurity and their influence on opinions about work, see AEI’s Public Opinion Study Economic Insecurity: Americans’ Concerns about their Jobs, Personal Finances, Retirement, Health Costs, Housing, and More.
First published at AEIdeas on September 2, 2016.
