smart spending

March 2011: Job security

Q:

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

The amount of people feeling more secure about their jobs rose just 1 percent from February, despite recent declines in the unemployment rate.
The number of people feeling less secure about job security actually rose from February, to 21 percent from 18 percent.
Workers under 30 were the most confident, with 24 percent feeling more secure about their jobs.

Mark J. Perry

"It could take several more years ..."

Almost all economic indicators are now pointing to a U.S. labor market that is making solid gains and experiencing ongoing improvements. Compared to a year ago, the economy has added 1.5 million private sector jobs, the unemployment rate has fallen from 9.7 percent to 8.9 percent, and manufacturing overtime hours reached a four-year high. And yet, despite all of the positive indicators of an economy and job market in a strong recovery, Americans appear to remain somewhat nervous about job security. Perhaps that is understandable given the reality that we are probably in a "jobless recovery" that could last into 2012. It could take several more years of strong job growth and a much lower jobless rate before Americans really feel confident about their job security.

- Mark J. Perry, Ph.D., professor of finance and business economics at the University of Michigan-Flint