There is a slight sense of optimism this month regarding the economy, but that optimism has yet to extend to the current employment situation. Currently, just under half of Americans (46%) believe the economy will improve in the coming year while one-third (32%) say it will stay the same and 22% believe it will get worse. In May, just under two in five (38%) believed the economy would improve in the coming year while over one-quarter (27%) said they thought it would get worse.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 2,498 U.S. adults surveyed online between August 10 and 18, 2009 by Harris Interactive®.

When it comes to household financial condition, one-quarter of Americans (24%) believe it will be better in six months while half (48%) say it will remain the same and 28% believe it will get worse. In June, one-third of Americans (33%) said they believed their household’s financial condition would get worse, one in five (21%) said it would get better and 45% thought it would stay the same. In fact, the 28% who say their household’s financial condition will get worse in the next six months is the lowest number who believes that since this question was first asked in February of 2008.

The Job Market

The news on the job market, however, does not seem to be encouraging Americans. Three in five Americans (61%) say they are not concerned that the main income earner might become unemployed in the next six months while 39% are concerned. However, seven in ten Americans (71%) would rate the current job market of their region of the country as bad with just 8% saying it is good while one in five (21%) believe it is neither good nor bad. This is almost unchanged from June when 72% said the current job market was bad and 9% said it was good.

Looking ahead six months, one-quarter of Americans (25%) say that the job market in their region will be worse in that time, 28% say it will be better and almost half (47%) believe it will remain the same. Here people are a little optimistic as in June, just one in five (21%) believed the job market in their region would be better in six months while almost one-third (32%) said it will be worse.

So What?

People are currently feeling cautiously optimistic on the economy. They are more likely to believe it is improving and more likely to think their own financial condition will be getting better. The one downside is that the job numbers are not moving as quickly as the others. Until Americans feel confident about both of these aspects of the economy, they will not feel the same level of optimism that the White House is trying to get across. And, until they feel strong Americans are not likely to be opening up their wallets and spending again – something that is needed to really help spur the economy along.