The State of the American Worker 2009

Source: American Enterprise Institute

+ Americans still display a high degree of satisfaction with their jobs. In August 2009, 50 percent of employed people told Gallup pollsters that they were completely satisfied with their jobs, and another 37 percent were somewhat satisfied.

+ The level of job satisfaction stands out even more because other polls in this collection show that economic anxiety has risen considerably. In 2009, for example, 31 percent told Gallup they were worried about being laid off, up from 15 percent in 2008. Twenty-seven percent were worried that their hours would be cut back, almost double the 2008 number (14 percent). Forty-six percent reported being worried that their benefits would be cut, up from 27 percent last year.

+ People are even more anxious about the possibility that someone in their family or someone else they know personally will lose a job in the next six months. Sixty percent told RBC/Ipsos interviewers that this was likely in a late July-early August 2009 poll.

+ One thing the vast majority of Americans are not worried about is that their job will be shipped overseas. Only ten percent replied that they were worried this year. Since Gallup began asking this question in 2003, no more than 12 percent have ever been worried that their job will be shipped overseas.