Young Americans Are Growing More Pessimistic About Their Future In The Labor Market, Poll Shows
Young Americans have become markedly more pessimistic about the job market, with the U.S. now showing the widest confidence gap in the world between younger and older adults on employment prospects, according to new Gallup data.
The survey found that 43% of Americans between the ages of 15 and 34 said 2025 was a good time to find a job where they live, compared to 64% of respondents aged 55 and older who said the same thing. The 21-point gap was the largest recorded among 141 countries and territories surveyed in Gallup’s World Poll.
The findings come as younger workers in the U.S. continue to navigate a labor market shaped by high-profile layoffs, especially in technology and media sectors, slower hiring in white-collar industries, and growing concerns over the impact of artificial intelligence on entry-level work. Reuters reported earlier this year that several major technology companies continued workforce reductions into 2025 even as broader inflation pressures eased.
Gallup said it conducted the global survey throughout 2025 as part of its annual World Poll. Respondents were asked whether it was “a good time to find a job” in the city or area where they live. The polling organization said younger Americans ranked 87th globally in optimism about local job opportunities.
The report showed the divide between younger and older Americans is relatively new. Gallup said younger Americans were traditionally more optimistic about job prospects than older adults, but that pattern reversed in 2024.
Younger Americans still reported relatively strong confidence in the labor market in 2023. However, since then, optimism dropped by 27 percentage points, Gallup found. The decline mirrors levels last seen around the 2007-2009 global financial crisis.
The drop has been especially sharp among young women, college-educated adults and younger people who are not yet employed full-time, according to the findings. The organization noted that graduates searching for stable employment reported some of the lowest confidence levels.
Concerns over artificial intelligence and automation have increasingly become part of the broader employment debate in the U.S.. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that companies across finance, consulting and technology have accelerated the use of AI tools in workplace operations, particularly in administrative and entry-level tasks.
The weaker outlook among younger Americans stands apart from trends seen in many other advanced economies. Gallup said younger adults across countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, generally remained more optimistic than older adults about local job prospects.
Among OECD nations, adults aged 15 to 34 recorded a median optimism level of 51%, compared with 42% among adults aged 55 and older, according to the Gallup report.
In several high-income countries, including Canada, South Korea and New Zealand, younger adults also expressed low confidence in the job market. However, Gallup found there was little generational divide in those countries because older adults reported similarly cautious views.
The U.S. differed because older Americans remained comparatively upbeat even as younger adults became increasingly negative about hiring conditions.
Broader economic uncertainty has also weighed on younger workers globally. Ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have contributed to volatility in energy prices and international markets over the past two years, while employers in several sectors have slowed hiring amid concerns about global growth. The Associated Press reported that many younger workers internationally have faced difficulties securing stable, long-term employment despite low unemployment figures in some economies.
Gallup said the decline in youth job optimism in the U.S. has continued even after the worst disruptions tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation eased. Aside from 2020, the organization said 2025 marked the first year on record in which young Americans’ confidence in local job opportunities fell below the median for other advanced economies.
