Workers Not Confident In U.S. Job Market

Survey Finds One-Third Of Americans Say They Don't Earn Enough To Make Ends Meet

(AP)  American workers' confidence in the job market is as low as it was during the 2001 recession, according to a survey released Thursday.

When asked whether this is a bad time to find a quality job, 65 percent said it was, matching the level of the 2001 recession, according to the survey by Rutgers University's John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development.

With unemployment at 5.7 percent, the highest level since 2004, and weekly unemployment claims hitting a six-year high earlier this month, workers are worried about everything from their weekly hours to their total pay.

As for retirement, many agree with Ray O'Connell, 56, an editor of engineering and computer science journals in New York City. "Won't happen," he said.

The survey found one third of workers said they often don't have enough money to make ends meet.

About one-third of respondents say the amount they owe on credit cards exceeds their retirement savings; another 3 percent say their credit card debt would cancel out their retirement account, according to the random survey of 1,000 people, 587 of whom are in the labor force.

Only half of respondents said they are working the number of hours they want to work and a third say there has been a change in the number of hours they work in the past three months. Eighteen percent were working more hours, and 14 percent worked fewer.

"This is a startling amount of change in a major area of people's lives over a very short period," according to a report on the survey called "The Anxious American Worker."

Nearly a third of respondents believe they are treated less as a person by their employer and more as "just someone who works" at their job.

Still, 91 percent of workers say they're "very" or "somewhat satisfied" with their jobs. A majority of American workers hold favorable attitudes toward their health and retirement benefits (62 percent), the number of hours they work (83 percent), and their annual income (74 percent).

However, only 55 percent of hourly workers are satisfied with their health and medical benefits, compared to 75 percent of salaried workers.

The survey also shows a wide disparity in parents' working hours: women with children at home work an average of 36 hours a week, while men with children at home work 48 hours per week.

Sixty-nine percent of respondents said they saved for retirement beyond their Social Security contributions, while 73 percent contribute to employer-sponsored retirement plans, and 67 percent report contributing to non-employer sponsored retirement plans. These figures are virtually unchanged from when the same questions were asked in 2005, and are down slightly from 2000.

Asked who is responsible for helping laid off workers, only 27 percent said workers were responsible for helping themselves, down from 52 percent in June 2003. Roughly one fifth said the government was responsible and another quarter said employers were responsible. The other options were combinations, such as workers and employers, workers and government, or all three equally were responsible.

The study had a sampling of error of plus or minus 4.2 percent, for workers in the labor force.

[slim1h2o]

Listen up Teenagers, if there is any reading these posts.



Do yourself a favor,do not, repeat, do not work for anyone but yourself.

I don''''t care what it is, weather it''''s working on computers, mowing lawns, building furnature in your parents garage, I don''''t care what it is. Just as long it''''s a viable trade, or service. If you follow my advice, you will be rewarded. Yes it will take some extra work, and yes, you might not make as much money in the begining, (later you will make much more than your peers) but at the end, you''''ll be much more happier.

Spoken from a man that knows.

[babooph]

Johns great,but with all those Guatamalans get deported,there will be an opening at the White house soon for a US citizen-following John around with a mop.

[carlylaine]

D is for the demonizing of the Repub conservats
E is for everytime you opened your mouth a lie fell out-
M is for the MONGERING you presented to us on a daily basis. Mongering PRO LIFE, mongering anti guns ANTI HUNTING , anti meat, anti UNITED STATES
O is for the "OHSH1t" after caught-on-tape utteringS
C is for the criers you elicit for sympathy to the masses to vote
R is for the RABID venom that spews from your lippers
A is for the majority of the constituents you represent
T is for the trying times you put the PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES through...because of your so-called altrusim as the guise for controlmania.

Put the letters together they spell FEAR MONGERS, SAME AS ANY CULT...FEAR MONGERS.

[zorlacskates]

your unemployment is a figment of your imagination. and if you haven''t saved enough for retirement, don''t worry; you can always be a greeter at walmart.

vote mccain if you want to work at walmart until you''re 85 years old!

[jayblrdi]

Demwatcher the congress hasn''t done much, but look at what they have to work with. When the president builds an outrageous debt on a disaster of a war and practices the Republican trickle down economic theory of keeping taxes low for the rich (I feel something trickling down all right, but it''s not money).

If you''re blaming the democratic congress for the state of affairs you''re really searching for a scapegoat to avoid the obvious culprit for our current situation:The Republican Administration.

Oh and Bhappy2 don''t worry even the "ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADER[s]" are having trouble finding jobs. A lot of them are going back to Mexico, which is what the Republicans wanted anyway. I guess they figured they could just destroy the economy that way nobody would want to come here for our jobs.

[oneworldusa]

I lost not one, but 2 state government jobs this year.

[bhappy2-2]

Of course people are not confident of our job market. Unless you are an ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADER no one wants to hire you.

[demwatcher]

And what has the Do Nothing Democrat Congress done for the economy in past 19 months?

Oh, their name says it all. DONE NOTHING!

But, do not worry America. If we elect Obama, we will all be poorer and become reliant on Government hand-outs. The Democrats will gladly tax what remains of our industry into oblivion to provide us with welfare checks AS LONG as we keep voting for them.

[walt1944-2009]

The Great Emperor Bush II is not dismayed at the gloomy economic news, much as his older clone, John McBush McCain, is not concerned. For them, as well as for almost every neocon Fascist Nazi connected to the Republican party, they have already made their money AT OUR EXPENSE!!!

Meanwhile, both the Great Emperor Bush II and his older clone are busy working on the speeches they will make at the Fascist Nazi RNC next week. It is expected that Rudy "9/11" Guiliani will put the fear of "terrrrrrrrrorists", both real but mostly imaginery, into everyone, followed by the Great Emperor Bush II who will pat himself on the back (no one else will!) for a job well done and "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED".

Next will come McCain who will tell everyone to stop whinning, that the economy is "strong" (so strong IT STINKS!), that jobs are plentiful (IN CHINA!) and corporate America and especially BIG OIL need more tax breaks to ship even more jobs overseas. He will then give an update on how many homes he has discovered that he owns!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!!
sig heil, THE GREAT LANDLORD, McCain!!!!!

[hypnotoad72]

PapaBC - I recall reading somewhere that Canada has a nice immigration policy but with one caveat: regardless of qualifications, Canada puts its own citizens first. Just like how other countries put their own citizens first. If the US is attempting to start a trend, I don''t think it''s caught on.