Gallup: Worker fears over pay cuts decline

About 1 in 5 U.S. workers is concerned about facing a pay cut soon, according to new data from Gallup.

That’s a sharp decline from the years directly after the 2008 fiscal crisis, when as many as 1 in 3 Americans feared seeing slashed wages. In fact, as recently as two years ago, roughly 30 percent of workers worried about a looming pay cut.

{mosads}Gallup has found that the U.S. workforce is less concerned about a variety of issues including reduced benefits and hours, the possibility of layoffs and companies moving jobs overseas. Workers were most worried about those matters early in the Obama administration, from 2009 to 2011.

Workers are roughly as worried about taking a pay cut as they are about getting laid off or losing hours, Gallup found. The most pressing concern for workers was reduced benefits, with about 1 in 3 Americans afraid of that outcome.

The number of Americans worried about reduced wages is still higher than it was before the latest recession, according to Gallup. About 1 in 6 workers feared a pay cut between 2003 and 2008, the polling company says.