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Workers are feeling the burden of economic uncertainty, and it’s leading them to become increasingly less hopeful about their jobs—especially if they’re just starting out.
The share of employees overall who reported having a positive six month outlook fell to 44.1% in May, down from 45.8% the previous month, according to new data from job platform Glassdoor’s Employee Confidence Index. That’s an all-time low since the index first started tracking the metric in 2016. The downward trend is largely being driven by entry-level employees; the share of confident employees within that cohort dropped from 44.1% to 43.4%. By comparison, the portion of confident mid- and director-level employees increased by 0.2% and .06% over the same time period.
“Entry level workers are feeling the brunt of a low-hiring job market and are finding it hard to get onto the career ladder at all, which is both a challenge and also very different from the experience just a few years ago,” says Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor.
The confidence dip for entry-level workers is largely due to economic uncertainty, according to Zhao. Mentions of layoffs were up 9% on Glassdoor over the last month, and have increased 18% over the past 12 months. Discussions of macroeconomic impacts also jumped 17% in May compared to the month before, signaling that these topics are weighing heavy on anxious employees.
“There has been this steady rise in layoffs, which combined with a low hiring environment and the lack of a reset period for workers, is causing this kind of cumulative stacking effect where [it’s] just bad news after bad news and it’s really taking its toll on workers,” says Zhao.
Employee confidence in government and public administration remains the lowest of any industry, thanks to widespread staffing cuts from the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Only 34.5% of employees in that sector reported a positive six-month outlook in May. By comparison, that number was 49% in November of last year.
Whether or not employees change their perspectives on the future will largely depend on how the labor market shapes up throughout the rest of the year, and whether or not companies start hiring again. However, if the economy stays sluggish or continues to weaken, as some forecasts are expecting, Zhao says employee confidence is likely to fall even further.
“There is this cumulative stacking effect that people feel when there’s just bad news after bad news, and it’s really taking its toll on workers.”
Brit Morse
brit.morse@fortune.com
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