Americans more positive about hunting for better jobs

Americans are more positive about the market for quality jobs than they have been at any time in the post-crisis era, according to a latest Gallup poll released on Wednesday. The new poll found that 24 percent of Americans now have positive job market perceptions, while only 8 percent believed in the same way a year ago. Seventy-three percent of Americans currently continue to say it is a bad time to find a quality job. Americans' views have not been this positive during the recession starting before the financial crisis, when 26 percent of Americans in March 2008 said it was a good time to find a quality job, said the Gallup poll. The improvement of Americans' job perceptions may result from their more positive assessment of the economy more broadly and recognition of improvement in the U.S. unemployment rate, said Gallupanalyst Lymari Morales. Americans' better job market perceptions coincide with recent improvements in broader economic confidence, as tracked by Gallup' s surveys in economic confidence and job creation, both improved significantly in recent months compared with the same time last year. The impact of the tax cut and government spending debate in Washington on the economic and job climate perceptions remains to be seen. Although the debate is not directly tied to the job climate, previous episodes of gridlock and division in Washington have depressed economic confidence, which could in turn depress Americans' attitudes about the job market, said Morales. In January 2007, 48 percent of Americans said it was a good time to find a quality job, the record high since Gallup began tracking this measure in 2001.