--- title: 3 in 4 Americans Say They're Concerned About 'Widespread' Layoffs description: The unemployment rate remains low, but Americans are still worried that inflation and a looming recession will lead to more layoffs. authors: - name: Brenden Rearick role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/brenden-rearick/ bio: Brenden Rearick is a former reporter at Money who specialized in covering breaking news and enterprise stories about credit cards, real estate, investing, and personal finance trends. education: University of Pittsburgh, BA at_money_since: 2023 articles: 133 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Housing - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology former_staff: true published: '2023-04-21T19:09:45.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:06:45.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - News word_count: 479 canonical: https://money.com/americans-concerned-widespread-layoffs/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Man looking worried at his office desk with his belongings packed](https://img.money.com/2023/04/News-Americans-worried-layoffs.jpg) On the whole, the [U.S. job market](https://money.com/unemployment-january-jobs-report-stock-market/) is doing fairly well — the most recent national unemployment rate came in at a cool 3.5%. And yet, if you've been reading economic news lately, you might still be worrying about the future. A new [survey](https://morningconsult.com/2023/04/20/layoffs-job-loss-unemployment/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email_newsletter&utm_campaign=feature_story&utm_content=Snyder_Finance_chart_04202023&mkt_tok=ODUwLVRBQS01MTEAAAGLPY5ViZCy2tkFCy-k2RfJb2U8g8oKsraJeP78puAK4ZuzjKOLVo1vALsvcz6YWuBpHeg7VA6fDfsfK4BW5L9IdOICvaLV-uGhzbCLGjANnLBh) from business analytics company Morning Consult finds that three-quarters of Americans fear widespread [layoffs](https://money.com/layoffs-coming-what-to-do/). Another sizable chunk of workers fear that their own jobs could end up on the chopping block, suggesting that low unemployment numbers aren’t enough to reassure employees who are growing anxious about their own workplaces. Perhaps unsurprisingly, doom-and-gloom headlines are having an impact on workers' psyches. In the Morning Consult poll, which was conducted last week, 75% of American adults expressed concern about widespread layoffs. Another 39% said they feared that these layoffs could affect their own employment. Younger Americans in particular were concerned about the safety of their own jobs; over half of millennial and Gen Z respondents expressed this concern, compared to only 17% of baby boomers who said they were worried. If further job losses come in the next six months, 46% of respondents predict they will occurring across all major industries. However, 34% see these potential losses coming from just a few industries. (Tech, specifically, has [seen wave after wave](https://money.com/twitter-big-tech-companies-layoffs/) of layoffs lately, starting with Twitter [slashing 7,500 jobs](https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/03/twitter-layoffs-elon-musk/) in November 2022 and recently including [Meta](https://fortune.com/2023/04/19/meta-layoffs-remote-4000-memo-mark-zuckerberg-year-of-efficiency/) readying another round of cuts.) ## What the data means The jobs market continues to show a relatively strong performance. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an [unemployment rate](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf) of just 3.5% in March and an addition of 236,000 jobs to the workforce. The number of layoffs and discharges actually [fell](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm) between January and February. What the survey likely implies is a growing fear of further economic downturn leading to more widespread layoffs. The Federal Reserve has been hiking interest rates for about a year in hopes of bringing down inflation, but many Americans remain in a [cost-of-living crisis](https://money.com/workers-raise-looking-new-job-survey/) where they can’t afford to lose their primary stream of income. Couple these conditions with the constant barrage of scary layoff headlines, and you can better understand where the alarm comes from. On top of the inflationary pressures, there’s also the lingering worry of a full-on recession. Although the U.S. is not formally [in a recession](https://money.com/are-we-in-a-recession/), many Americans see a recession as [already upon them](https://money.com/recession-poll-saving-money/) or are fretting about a "[credit crunch](https://money.com/credit-crunch-affects-loans-interest-rates/)" in which loans are harder to come by. The Federal Reserve has only forecasted a [“mild” recession](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/mild-recession-now-likely-year-federal-reserve-says-rcna79405) for later in the year, but a worsening economy could push more companies into stringent cost-cutting measures. [Gen Z and Millennial Workers Put in 8 Hours of Unpaid Overtime Every Week: Report](https://money.com/gen-z-millennial-work-unpaid-overtime/) [55% of Workers Say They Haven't Gotten a Raise in Over a Year](https://money.com/workers-raise-looking-new-job-survey/) [3 Ways to Invest in Gold if You're Worried About the Economy](https://money.com/3-ways-to-invest-in-gold-if-youre-worried-about-the-economy/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/americans-concerned-widespread-layoffs/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Layoffs", "item": "https://money.com/layoffs/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "3 in 4 Americans Say They're Concerned About 'Widespread' Layoffs" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/americans-concerned-widespread-layoffs/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/americans-concerned-widespread-layoffs/", "name": "3 in 4 Americans Say They're Concerned About 'Widespread' Layoffs", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-04-21T19:09:45.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/americans-concerned-widespread-layoffs/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/americans-concerned-widespread-layoffs/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:06:45.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "3 in 4 Americans Say They're Concerned About 'Widespread' Layoffs", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/04/News-Americans-worried-layoffs.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Americans-worried-layoffs" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brenden Rearick", "url": "https://money.com/author/brenden-rearick/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brenden-rearick/#author", "description": "Brenden Rearick is a former reporter at Money who specialized in covering breaking news and enterprise stories about credit cards, real estate, investing, and personal finance trends.\r\n\r\n", "email": "brenden.rearick@money.com", "alumniOf": "University of Pittsburgh, BA" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2023-04-21T19:09:45.000Z", "description": "The unemployment rate remains low, but Americans are still worried that inflation and a looming recession will lead to more layoffs.", "abstract": "The unemployment rate remains low, but Americans are still worried that inflation and a looming recession will lead to more layoffs.", "@id": "https://money.com/americans-concerned-widespread-layoffs/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:06:45.000Z", "wordCount": 479, "keywords": [ "News" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Political economy", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_economy" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Layoff", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layoff" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Employment", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment" ] } ] } ] } ```