Americans still worry about layoffs, hours, benefits

Employed Americans say they still have high levels of concern about their job security five years after the global financial crisis, Gallup said Monday. Workers' worries during the financial crisis about having their hours, wages and benefits cut, or being laid off haven't alleviated over time, results from Gallup's annual August Work and Education polls indicated. Trends consistently indicate U.S. workers have the greatest concern about having their benefits reduced, and that still is the case now, with 43 percent citing benefits cuts their chief concern. In 2009, when there was 10 percent unemployment in the United States, the concern measured 46 percent, Gallup said. Since 2009, about four in 10 said they worry about a reduction in benefits, higher than in any year from 2003 through 2008, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said. Worries about being laid off, a salary reduction, or a cut in hours roughly doubled between 2008 and 2009, and remain between 25 percent and 31 percent, Gallup said. Results for this Gallup poll are based on nationwide telephone interviews with 2,059 adults conducted Aug. 7-11. For results based on the sample of 1,039 adults who are employed full- or part-time, the margin of error is 4 percentage points.