A larger share of U.S. workers say they worry more about having their benefits reduced than they do about having their wages cut, being laid off, having their hours cut back or their company moving their jobs overseas, according to a new Gallup poll.
Benefits cuts consistently have been the top worry since Gallup first asked the question in their annual Work and Education poll in 1997. U.S. workers’ worries about these possibilities generally have eased since 2014 after rising sharply following the financial crisis and staying elevated during the ensuing period of high unemployment.
Thirty percent of workers surveyed say they worry most about benefits cuts, while 20% say having their wages cut is the biggest concern. Being laid off worries 19% of workers the most, while having hours cut back is the top concern for 19%. Eight percent say they’re most concerned about having their job moved overseas.
The 30% of workers who say they worry about benefits reductions today is essentially back to where it was before the September 2008 financial crisis, Gallup says. U.S. workers’ concern about having their benefits cut spiked to 46% in 2009 and did not show sustained recovery until falling to 34% in 2014.
Government workers and unionized workers are significantly more likely than nongovernment and nonunion workers to worry about having their benefits reduced. According to combined data from the 2014-2016 Work and Education surveys, 46% of government workers and 45% of union workers say they worry their benefits will be reduced. That compares with 32% of those employed by a private company and 31% of nonunion workers.
The survey results are based on telephone interviews conducted in early August with a random sample of 521 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, who are employed full or part time. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus six percentage points.
Read the full story and see the complete poll results.
