Layoff fears still grip one in four U.S. workers

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More than one-quarter of American workers still live in fear that they will be laid off from their jobs, and nearly 40% remain worried about possible cuts in their benefits, a new Gallup poll shows.

Those percentages are down from a year ago but still sharply higher than they were before the deep recession hit in 2008.

The poll of 1,013 full- and part-time workers, conducted Aug. 5 to 8, found that 26% are worried that they could lose their jobs in the near future.

By contrast, 31% of workers polled by Gallup in August 2009 were concerned about being cut. So the economy’s recovery this year has reduced some Americans’ fears of becoming jobless.

The private sector has added a net 630,000 jobs this year after slashing a net 4.7 million positions in 2009.
Still, in an August 2008 Gallup poll, even as job losses were deepening that summer, just 15% of workers said they were worried about being laid off.

In the new poll, the number of workers who are fearful of losing some of their benefits also is down from a year earlier: 39% now say they’re worried about having benefits cut in the near future, down from 46% in August 2009 but up from 27% in August 2008.

Fear of losing benefits is highest among workers earning $50,000 to $99,999 a year. A total of 48% of those workers say they’re concerned about benefits cuts, compared with 34% of those earning less than $50,000 and 34% as well of those earning $100,000 or more.

By contrast, lower-income workers are more nervous about holding on to their jobs: 30% of those earning less than $50,000 worry about being laid off, compared with 25% of workers in the $50,000-to-$99,999 income range and just 21% in the $100,000-plus group.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

-- Tom Petruno