Jan. 7, 2009 — Americans are hunkering down. At work, that is. Despite now being in a recession, a new survey found that the same amount of U.S. workers plan to job hunt in 2009 as there were at this time last year.
The survey by SnagAJob.com found that 26% of employed Americans plan to look for a new job this year. The survey also found that employed Americans said if they were to lose their job tomorrow, their immediate household would be able to survive an average of 120 days before being unable to pay for basic expenses. For those with a household income of less than $25,000, the average length of getting by was just 30 days.
The survey also found that 73% of respondents said they do not plan to look for a new job this year, and of those being happy at their current job was the No. 1 reason 65% said they will stay put. Seventeen percent of respondents said they consider themselves fortunate to have the job they have and 7% said these tough times are not good for looking for work.
“Given the bleak economic news, we are surprised to see that there hasn’t been a significant decrease in the number of employed Americans who expect to undertake a new job search,” said Shawn Boyer, CEO of SnagAJob.com. “Intuitively, you might think that fewer workers would want to leave the security of a paycheck they’re already earning for the unknown of a job hunt and new job. But the positive news here — for employees and employers alike — is that the majority of employed Americans are still happy at their current jobs, and that’s a greater motivator to stay put, as opposed to feeling trapped because it’s a tough market.”
The survey found that of the 26% of employed Americans who plan to job hunt, 37% said their main reason is a desire for a bigger paycheck. Nearly one-fourth (19%) said they are job hunting because they think they are in danger of being laid off and 11% are unhappy at their current job.
Other survey findings:
29% of hourly workers said they will be on the job hunt, which is down 2% from last year. More money is the No. 1 reason 44% of hourly workers will be looking for new employment. For the 71% of hourly workers who will not be job hunting, this is largely because they are happy at work (60%).
22% of salaried workers plan to find a new job, up 3% from last year. Three in 10 of these salaried workers are most motivated to find a new job because they fear being laid off. An additional 26% need a new job in order to make more money. For the 77% of salaried workers who will not be looking for work, happiness at their current job is their No. 1 reason for staying put (72%).
Older workers are more likely to be on the job hunt than they were last year. Of those who are at least 55 years old, 13% said they will be looking for a new job, which is up 5% from last year. The need to make more money is the No. 1 factor for 42% of this group, and an additional 18% said they will need a new job because they plan to relocate to a different area. Fourteen percent of this group felt they are in danger of being laid off.
Salaried workers and households with an income of $50,000 or more said their immediate household would be able to survive a median of 180 days before it would be unable to pay for basic expenses like rent/mortgage, food and transportation. Hourly workers reported a median of 90 days.
Households in the South reported the greatest cushion if they were to experience a layoff, citing a median of 180 days. The Midwest has a median of 150 days, and households in the Northeast and West would feel the most pressure with a median of 90 days each.
Survey methodology
For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 1,098 working Americans were interviewed by telephone via Ipsos’ U.S. Telephone Express omnibus Nov. 13-Dec. 1, 2008. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within ± 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample’s regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
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