Worker Confidence Reaches Highest Level in Six Years

The Rasmussen Employment Index, which measures worker confidence, jumped five points in May to its highest level in over six years of monthly tracking. At 100.1, worker confidence is up from last month’s finding of 95.6. In March, the index had hit a previous six-year high of 96.2.

Generally speaking, an increase in the Rasmussen Employment Index suggests the upcoming government report on job creation will be stronger than the prior month’s reports. Consumer and investor confidence in May were generally at their highest levels this year and well ahead of where they have been since the Wall Street meltdown in September 2008.

Other findings from the May 2014 survey:

• 28% of workers report that their firms are hiring; 16% say their employers are laying off workers. With the exception of last October, the number of reported hirings has outnumbered reported layoffs for the past year-and-a-half.
• 21% of workers are worried about losing their job, down a point from April.
• 72% of workers are happy with their current job, also down a point from the month before.
• 69% of all Americans know someone who is out of work and looking for a job. 42% also know someone who, out of frustration with the difficult job market, has given up looking for work.
• Only 28% of Working Americans say they work a 40-hour week, but 62% say they look forward to going to work. Most workers like their boss and say they have a good relationship with their fellow employees.
• 44% think the economy is fair to people who are willing to work hard.
• 75% believe it will be difficult for young people to find summer jobs in the current economy; 31% say it will be very difficult.
• 28% believe most college graduates have the skills to enter the workforce.

The survey of 9,176 working Americans was conducted in May 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 1 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.