Nearly half of US adults now say they are very concerned about people who want to work being unable to find jobs, according to a Pew Research Center survey released this week.
That marks a sharp increase from just a few years ago.
The share expressing that level of concern has climbed to 48%, up from 44% in July and far above the 29% recorded in October 2022.
What the survey found
While concerns about the job market are not as widespread, they have also risen in recent months: 48% now say they are very concerned about people who want to work being unable to find jobs, up from 44% in July and substantially higher than the 29% who said this in October 2022.
The finding comes from Pew’s latest report on public economic sentiment, which also tracked views on housing, gas prices and consumer goods.
The data draws on Wave 200 of the American Trends Panel, Pew Research Center’s nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. Pew surveyed 5,062 U.S. adults between September 28 and October 4 , 2026.
Views split sharply along party lines
The concern is not evenly distributed across party lines. Democrats are also more concerned than Republicans about the role of AI in the economy and people who want to work being unable to find jobs, with 48% of the total public, 34% of Republicans and Republican leaners, and 59% of Democrats and Democratic leaners saying they are very concerned about people who want to work being unable to find jobs.
That partisan gap mirrors patterns seen elsewhere in the report. The rising concern about energy was broad, though not even across party lines. Eighty-one percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners said they were very concerned about gas and energy prices, compared with 65% of Republicans and Republican leaners.
Part of a broader cost-of-living squeeze
The jobs finding sits inside a wider report showing Americans growing more pessimistic about the economy overall.
In a Pew Research Center report published Thursday, 74% of U.S. adults said they were very concerned about gas and energy prices. That was up from 60% in July and 43% in January. Pew also found 73% of adults very concerned about food and consumer goods costs.
Those pocketbook pressures help explain why job security worries are climbing even though headline unemployment has not spiked.
Workers juggling rising grocery and energy bills appear to be more sensitive to any sign of labor market softening, a dynamic that echoes other recent findings on how worker engagement and confidence have shifted in the broader economy this year.
Why it matters for workers
A jump from 29% to 48% over four years marks one of the larger shifts Pew has recorded on this specific question since it began tracking it.
For job seekers and employers alike, growing public unease about hiring conditions can shape everything from how workers negotiate pay to how willing they are to change careers in search of stability.
The findings land as many households are already stretching paychecks further, a pattern also visible in how Americans are managing everyday purchases amid tighter budgets.
Pew’s researchers plan to continue tracking the jobs question in future waves of the American Trends Panel as the labor market evolves heading into next year.
