Workers less likely to worry about layoffs, salary cuts than in 2020: Gallup

A poll released by Gallup on Thursday found that fewer U.S. workers are concerned about possible setbacks at work than they were last year, though unease surrounding their employment remains higher than before the pandemic.

According to Gallup’s survey, 18 percent of workers said they are worried about being laid off, a drop of nearly 10 percentage points from last year but 3 percentage points higher than in 2019.

“American workers are less worried about a variety of adverse job outcomes than they were last year, but they are still more worried than before the pandemic shook the economy,” Gallup said. “While the unemployment rate remains higher than it was before the pandemic, it has come down from the spring of 2020 when many businesses were shut down.”

Twenty percent said they are concerned about having their work hours cut back, compared to 27 percent in 2020. And while 28 percent in 2020 said they had concerns of their wages being reduced, 23 percent said the same in the more recent poll.

The poll also found that 15 percent of workers said they are concerned that their jobs would become obsolete due to technology and 11 percent said they are concerned that their jobs would be moved overseas. Though Gallup has not asked these questions every year, the company noted that this level of concern has remained relatively the same.

The new Gallup poll was conducted from Aug. 2 to 17 among 1,006 U.S. adults. The results have a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Millions of Americans lost federal unemployment benefits this week as the deadline for benefits expanded during the pandemic passed on Monday. This cutoff came about soon after an August jobs report was released indicating a slowdown in hiring.

Economic experts have predicted that the end of expanded unemployment benefits may spur some job growth though the economic impact of the pandemic will persist.