AEI Public Opinion Study: The state of the American worker 2015

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In celebration of Labor Day, this AEI Public Opinion Study examines workers’ satisfaction with different aspects of their jobs, concerns about job security and employment, and how Americans balance work with personal life.

• Overall job satisfaction: Since pollsters began asking about job satisfaction in the 1970s, there has been little change in the responses, with the vast majority of workers saying they are satisfied with their jobs. In National Opinion Research Center’s latest survey, 86 percent said they were very or moderately satisfied with their work.

• Satisfaction with job characteristics: People are most satisfied with their coworkers, but they are generally satisfied with many other aspects of their jobs. In 2015, 92 percent said they were completely or somewhat satisfied with their coworkers. Eighty-four percent were satisfied with their job security, and 83 percent were satisfied with their boss. Satisfaction with earnings was lower—33 percent were completely satisfied with the amount of money they earned, and 36 percent were somewhat satisfied. (Gallup)

• Job anxiety: Americans’ concerns about employment have improved substantially since the Great Recession. Worries about being laid off peaked at 31 percent in Gallup’s 2009 survey. In 2015, 22 percent said they were worried about being laid off. Twenty percent in 2015, compared to 32 percent in 2009, worried that their wages would be reduced (Gallup).

• Work characteristics: In survey questions asked since 1996, around 15 percent say they hold more than one job. Telecommuting has risen in popularity since US News and Gallup first asked about it twenty years ago, when 9 percent of workers said they have telecommuted. In August 2015, Gallup found that 37 percent of working Americans had telecommuted.

• Work-life balance: In National Opinion Research Center’s 2014 survey, 40 percent said it is “not at all hard” to take time off during their work day to take care of personal or family matters, and 29 percent said “not too hard.” Asked about the first job they had after having their first child, 59 percent of mothers and 76 percent of fathers of children under age 18 said they were satisfied with the flexibility in their work schedule to take care of their child (Washington Post, June–July 2015).

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