How do Americans feel about the job market?

Americans are worried about inflation, pessimistic about the economy in general and upset about the way their leaders are handling it. But they are still satisfied with the job market.

Fifty-two percent of Americans say it’s a good time to find a job right now, compared to just 11 percent who say it’s a bad time, according to a New York Times survey last month by online research firm Momentive. . (The rest say the situation is “mixed,” or they don’t answer the question.) 56 percent said the labor market is more favorable for employees than employers, and the majority believe these conditions will last at least six months.

Nor are most Americans worried that their jobs are at risk. 44 percent of those surveyed said they were worried they or a loved one would be laid off in the next few months, just a modest increase from 37 percent just before the pandemic.

“People are seeing that the job market is still a bit of a bright spot,” said Brianna Richardson, research scientist at Momentive.

The rosy view of jobs is a stark contrast to Americans’ views of the economy in large part. More than 90 percent of people in the survey said they were concerned about inflation, and the majority said they were in worse financial terms than a year earlier. Only 17 percent said that general working conditions in the country were fairly good or very good.

Ms. Richardson said the findings indicated that bad news about inflation outweighed good news about jobs in Americans’ perceptions of the economy. This also seems to apply to people’s finances: although they see it as an employee-friendly job market, most workers say they haven’t been getting raises to keep pace with rising prices.

Americans are looking dimly at the way the White House and the Federal Reserve are dealing with inflation, despite the survey being conducted before Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia signed a bill that Democrats say will help lower inflation. But those polled don’t necessarily think Republicans will do better. 44 percent of survey respondents said they believed Democrats would do a better job with the economy, versus 47 percent who favored Republicans on this issue. These numbers haven’t changed much from when the question was last asked in May 2019.

About the survey: The data in this article came from an online survey of 5,881 adults conducted by polling company Momentive from July 18 to July 25. The company randomly selected respondents from among the more than two million people who took surveys on its platform. day. Responses were weighted to match the demographic profile of the US population. The survey has a typical error estimate (similar to the margin of error in a standard telephone survey) of plus or minus two percentage points, so differences below this amount are considered non-statistically significant.