American employees are not feeling great about the future. In fact, their optimism is at an even lower point than it was during the height of the pandemic. 

The U.S. worker confidence score for February of this year reached a record low of +24, according to new research from LinkedIn. That’s even worse than how workers were feeling in April 2020, and a sharp 9 point drop from confidence levels in January. 

The culprit for all the anxiety is a slowing jobs market, potentially destructive new economic policies, and fears about how AI will impact human professionals, according to the report. “This is indicative of workers feeling like they don’t have the power to actually change their financial situation. When you feel like you don’t have the power, your confidence in your own stability wanes,” Drew McCaskill, a career expert at LinkedIn,” tells Fortune. 

While the job market was controlled by job seekers just a few years ago, who made major wage gains by switching roles, that opportunity for workers has all but ground to a halt. The number of applicants per open job on LinkedIn has jumped nearly 70% since 2022, while hiring has slowed 3.4% from February 2024 to February 2025. McCaskill also notes that the influx of fired federal workers searching for new roles may also be a source of strain because “none of us know whether the private sector is going to be able to absorb all those jobs.” 

“It is essentially an employer’s marketplace right now,” he says. 

It’s no surprise, then, that money is causing the most anxiety for workers. Employee confidence in their ability to better their financial situation over the next six months dropped to +15, even lower than April 2020’s score of +16, and a record low for that metric in particular. 

While the current hiring environment is certainly challenging for job seekers, McCaskill says it also puts pressure on hiring managers, and HR leaders. On one hand, this group potentially has their pick of candidates when it comes to filling a role. But this “overwhelmed, overworked” cohort is also wading through more applications and struggling to meet higher demands from bosses who think they should be hiring the best of the best. That’s leading to some inevitable broken links in the job hiring chain. 

“Recruiters are now inundated,” he says. “People who are looking for jobs there aren’t getting responses back.”

Sara Braun
sara.braun@fortune.com

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A round-up of the most important HR headlines.

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Watercooler

Everything you need to know from Fortune.

A federal judge just blocked part of President Trump’s executive orders that targeted DEI programs at companies that are federal contractors. —Claire Savage, Alexandra Olson, AP

Meet Amazon’s army of robots. —Leo Schwartz 

Bill Gates says that thanks to AI, a two-day work week will be a reality in the near future. —Preston Fore