Gallup Poll Finds Young Americans Most Pessimistic About Jobs in Decades

Younger Americans are turning sharply more pessimistic about jobs than older adults, a 21-point gap that Gallup said was the largest age divide in its survey of 141 countries. Only 43% of Americans ages 15 to 34 said it was a good time to find a job where they live, compared with 64% of those 55 and older.

That split matters because it runs against the usual pattern. Globally, younger adults are typically the more upbeat group: Gallup found a median 48% of younger adults saying it is a good time to find work, versus 38% of older adults. In the United States, the reverse has become true, and Gallup’s Benedict Vigers called it an "incredibly new phenomenon."

The reversal is especially striking because younger Americans had long been more optimistic about the labor market than older Americans, even during the Great Recession. Gallup said 2025 was the first time in decades of polling that young Americans were more pessimistic than their peers in other developed countries, underscoring how quickly the country’s mood has shifted.

The poll points to more than a simple downbeat reading of monthly jobs data. It reflects a broader strain in younger adults’ view of the economy, shaped by housing costs, economic mobility and confidence in institutions. Those pressures help explain why a strong headline labor market can still feel inaccessible to people trying to land a first job, move out on their own or build savings while carrying debt and facing high rents.

The generational divide also lands against a weakening national backdrop. Gallup said its Economic Confidence Index fell to -38 in April 2026, down 11 points, with Americans’ financial worries dominated by inflation, energy, housing and healthcare costs. In March, Gallup reported that more U.S. workers were struggling than thriving for the first time in its tracking, and that job market confidence had dropped sharply as about half of employees looked for better opportunities.

Gallup’s global comparison suggests the U.S. is an outlier. It is one of only five countries where younger people are at least 10 points more pessimistic than older people about local job availability, alongside China, Hong Kong, Norway, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates. Among the 141 countries surveyed, younger Americans ranked 87th in job market expectations.

The finding does not signal collapse in the labor market. It signals something more politically durable: a confidence gap. If younger Americans keep believing they are worse off than older workers, and worse off than their counterparts abroad, that perception could shape where they live, how they vote and how they judge the government’s handling of the economy.