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June 2011: Job security

June 2011 Financial Security Index » Job Security

Q:

How do you feel about your job security compared to 12 months ago?

The number of people less secure about their job rose to 22 percent, up 4 percentage points from May.
The number of people more secure fell slightly, to 20 percent from 21 percent in May.
People earning less than $30,000 were most likely to feel more secure about their job, at 30 percent.

Sylvia A. Allegretto

"A labor market down so low so long has not been seen since the Depression."

The labor market remains in crisis after 18 months of severe recession followed, to date, by two years of tepid recovery. The economy is still 7 million jobs short of its pre-recessionary level, and unemployment is on the rise at 9.1 percent. In May, job growth tanked as just 54,000 materialized -- way below the 2011 monthly average of 157,000, which itself is barely enough to keep up with growth in the labor force. In this light, it isn't surprising that there was a four-point increase from May to June in workers who feel their jobs are not as secure as a year ago. Even the 58 percent who feel the same security as a year ago don't necessarily feel secure -- it is quite possible they felt very insecure a year ago and still do.

Sylvia A. Allegretto, economist, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, University of California, Berkeley

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Posted: June 20, 2011

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