One fifth of Americans worry that a wage reduction is likely in the near future, but Gallup researchers say the number is showing signs of improvement.
One in five American job holders are worried that pay reductions may be in their futures, according to data from Gallup.
Even so, the percentage of people who harbor this fear is down dramatically over figures recorded just a few years ago, leading Gallup researchers to conclude this might be a positive sign that life for many Americans is turning around following the Great Recession.
To arrive at the findings, Gallup researchers conducted telephone interviews between Aug. 5-9, 2015. A random sample of 1,011 adults, ages 18 and up, living in the United States were polled on this employment-related question.
The August Work and Education survey also focused on four other key employment questions that are tracked annually to obtain a temperature reading of workers’ confidence levels.
Wage Reduction Fears Linger
One fifth of Americans still worry that wage reductions are likely in the near future, but Gallup researchers say the number is showing signs of improvement. During the years of 2003 and 2008, about 16% of employed Americans told Gallup pollsters they worried about reduced wages.
As the recession’s impacts were felt across the country and unemployment figures rose dramatically, so did the number of people reporting this concern. In 2009, the percentage doubled to 32% and peaked at 33% in 2011.
Americans Are Gaining More Confidence
Improved numbers in regard to the potential for wage reductions aren’t the only signs that confidence levels are on the rise. Gallup also saw improvements in the other four questions traditionally asked during the August poll when comparing results from 2011 with those recorded in 2015:
- Worries about benefit reductions – The percentage of Americans concerned about this dropped from 44% in 2011 to 34% in 2015.
- Fear of layoffs – The numbers dropped from 30% in 2011 to 22% in 2015.
- Cutbacks on available hours to work – Back in 2011, 30% of respondents said they harbored this fear. By 2015, the number dropped to 19%.
- Worries about jobs moving overseas – This concern was held by 13% of respondents in 2011, but dropped to just 9% in 2015.
Gallup noted a strong correlation to employment-related concerns and the country’s unemployment rate. Since 2003, workers’ fears rose along with the unemployment rate that peaked at 9% or higher between 2009 and 2011. As that rate dropped by about 1 percentage point a year, so did reports of workers being afraid of workplace cutbacks.
As the economy improves, worker outlook about their employment status is also rebounding. Gallup, however, is not sure exactly whether this means Americans are seeing their lives return to early 2000s “normal,” or if they are accepting conditions as the “new reality after the Great Recession and thus not a cause for worry.”
