Westerners seem to feel the worst about the job market, as almost three-quarters of them (73%) say it is bad in their region of the country and only 8% say it is good. Southerners feel the best about the job market, as almost one in five (18%) say the job market in their region is good while 58% say it is bad.
Looking ahead six months, there isn't much optimism. Less than one-quarter of Americans (23%) believe the job market in their region will be better in six months while one-quarter (24%) say it will be worse. Over half of Americans (53%) believe the job market will remain the same over the next six months.
Will the job market actually start to improve? More than two in five U.S. adults (43%) say it will not happen for another year or even longer, the highest number of Americans who have said this since the question was first asked in December 2009. One in five (22%) U.S. adults say the job market will not start improving for another 6 to 12 months from now. Yet, there are some people who see the recovery starting even sooner for the job market, as 12% believe it will start to improve in the next 6 months and 7% say it has already started growing.
Concern over unemployment
With worries over the job market, there is also some concern over personally becoming unemployed. Almost two in five Americans (37%) say they are concerned that the main income earner in their household might become unemployed in the next six months while 28% are not very concerned. Just over one-third of U.S. adults (35%) say they are not at all concerned this might happen.
So What?
Economic news can be fairly abstract to many Americans. They hear the leading indicators, but outside of economists, most cannot say what they are indicators of. Jobs, however, people understand and worry about. The lack of optimism is something that has held steady for some time and, at this point, it may take something very strong to jumpstart Americans' thinking positively.
