US workers regain faith in finding good job if laid off

Americans' confidence that they would find a good job if they get sacked from their current job has been restored, a Gallup poll released Monday found.

Currently, 63 percent believe it is very likely or somewhat likely that they would find a job as good as the one they have, up from 42 percent six years ago.

The new figure is similar to what Gallup measured in early 2007, Gallup said, before the U.S. economy took a nose dive and sent the global economy reeling.

The survey comes seven years after a massive economic downturn that has produced a period of heightened financial anxiety for many Americans.

The worst recession since the Great Depression brought unemployment rates near double digits, and a record-high percentage of U.S. workers worried about being laid off.

Workers' confidence in being able to find another decent job if that happened tumbled by 22 percentage points, according to Gallup.

But now, confidence is back up, and Americans are just as optimistic now as before the recession that they would find similar employment if they lost their jobs.

At the same time, however, the jobs recovery has been uneven -- stronger in some industries than others, Gallup found.

Americans' increasing optimism about their job prospects has been reflected in the growing number of employees quitting their jobs voluntarily, in most cases presumably because they have found another job.

Whether that trend continues -- especially in light of Bureau of Labor Statistics' report showing that April job growth did not meet expectations -- may depend on whether the U.S. economy can grow at a stronger pace than it did in the first quarter of 2016, Gallup said.