Job Market Confidence Hits Highest Level Since Tracking Began

Job market confidence among adult Americans hit the highest level ever in March since regular tracking began by Rasmussen Reports in 2010. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 46% of American think the job market is better than it was a year ago, up from 39% in November and a new all-time high.

Just 15% think the job market today is worse than it was a year ago, while 35% think it’s about the same.

The gains in job market confidence measured by Rasmussen was across the board including 47% of whites, 32% of blacks and 51% of other races and ethnicities. While there remains a disparity among party affiliation, 74% Republicans, 25% of Democrats and 44% of unaffiliated Americans agree “the job market better than it was a year ago.”

American workers are more confident than ever that they will get a salary boost in the near future, and most continue to believe the best opportunity for career advancement is to stay put. Those results are mirrored by other survey statistics and government data.

The latest jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the U.S. economy added 313,000 jobs in February, the most in several years and far more than economists had anticipated. The ADP National Employment Report showed job creation in the U.S. private sector was “red hot,” adding 235,000 jobs in February and mostly in higher-paying sectors.

The Conference Board said the Consumer Confidence Index soared in February to 130.8 (1985=100), up from 124.3 in January to a near 18-year high.

The Survey of Consumers, a closely-watched gauge of consumer sentiment, rose in early March to its highest level since 2004 fueled by an all-time record assessment of current economic conditions. The Index of Consumer Sentiment rose to 102.0 from a preliminary 98.8, easily beating the median forecast and the 99.7 reading for February.

Now, 62% of Americans now believe it is possible for anyone who really wants to work to find a job, just a point less than the all-time high measured last August. Just 26% disagree and say it’s not possible for anyone who wants to work to find a job and 12% are not sure.

The survey of 1,000 American Adults was conducted on March 11-12, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. See methodology.