Americans are becoming more optimistic about the job prospects in this country.
According to a new Gallup survey conducted in December, 36 percent of Americans say that now is a good time to find a quality job. This is six percentage points higher than the share of adults who said so last month.
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Despite the fact that the job outlook seems to be particularly dismal for Millennials, younger Americans are actually more likely to be optimistic about the job situation.
Specifically, 43 percent of individuals ages 18 to 49 say it’s a good time to find a good job, while only 29 percent of those 50 and up agree.
Undoubtedly, the breakdown would look different if Millennials were isolated in an age bracket. After all, reports show that many of these young Americans have given up on finding jobs. Recent college graduates are also facing a high rate of underemployment and much worse levels of unemployment than their older counterparts.
Nevertheless, the survey demonstrates that Americans’ optimism is finally recovering from the Great Recession. The share of adults who label it a good time to find a job hit the highest mark in December since November 2007, before the beginning of the Great Recession.
It’s important to remember, though, that a majority of American adults – 61 percent, specifically — still deem it a bad time to go job hunting. While this is better than the 66 percent who said so in November, it still suggests that there are gains to be made.
The highest percentage of Americans optimistic about the job outlook in the history of this poll was achieved in January 2007 when it hit 48 percent.
Its nadir — 8 percent — has been achieved multiple times, the most recent of which was in November 2011.
The poll was conducted between December 8 and 11 and involved 805 adult Americans.
