Expand / Collapse search
☰

Young Americans stand out for job market pessimism, data shows

By
Published  May 12, 2026 5:54pm EDT
Economy
FOX Local
article

FILE-A jobseeker takes a flyer at a job fair at a college in North Carolina. (Allison Joyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Brief

    • Less than 50% of young adults say they are optimistic about job prospects in the U.S.
    • A Gallup poll revealed that the group with the most pessimistic attitudes about the job market are young graduates still searching for employment.
    • Older Americans polled are more hopeful about the job market than young Americans.

Optimism about the job market has waned among young Americans compared to other age groups in the nation, according to a new Gallup poll. 

Although Americans 55 years old and older, many of whom are no longer in the labor force, are still upbeat about the job market, this sentiment differs among young adults. 

RELATED: These are the best entry-level jobs in 2026, data suggests

Gallup collected results for its survey using telephone interviews conducted June 14 and July 16, 2025, with 1,000 Americans 15 years old and older. 

Young Americans pessimistic over job market

Dig deeper:

Gallup’s poll found that young adults had higher negative attitudes toward the job market compared to older adults in the past few years.

In 2024, young Americans dropped behind older adults in job market optimism with their belief that it was a good time to find a job falling to 55%. And this trend continued in 2025, with young adults' optimism about jobs plummeting to 43%.

RELATED: These cities rank as the best places to start a career in 2026, according to data

According to Gallup, young adults' optimism about the job market has dipped significantly in 2024 and 2025. While optimism has tumbled among all young Americans, the sharpest declines have been among young women.

The poll found that young graduates who haven’t yet found full-time jobs are the most pessimistic, which in part may be due to anxiety about artificial intelligence displacing entry-level roles, although the data does not measure this specifically. 

Gallup concluded in its survey that although young adults' growing cynicism towards the job market now is relatively new, this group’s outlook on finding jobs was bleaker in the early 2010s. 

The Source: Information for this story was provided by Gallup, which conducted a poll of 1,000 Americans 15 years old and older. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.


 

EconomyLifestyle