79% Know Someone Out of Work and Looking for Employment

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Nearly eight-of-10 American adults (79%) know someone who is out of work and looking for a job. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that only 14% do not know an unemployed person looking for work.

Eighty-two percent (82%) of men and 77% of women know an unemployed job-seeker.

Seventy-two percent (72%) of adults say the current job market is worse than it was a year ago, while only six percent (6%) say it is better. One-in-five (20%) say the market is about the same.

The plurality of adults (45%) says personal networking is the best way to find a job in today’s economy. Twenty-two percent (22%) say applying for jobs posted on the Internet is the best way, while 11% say employment agencies are the most effective route. Only nine percent (9%) believe newspapers classified ads are the best way to find employment.

Seventeen percent (17%) of all adults say they currently have their resume posted on the Internet, while most (77%) say they do not. Men by a nearly two-to-one margin over women are more likely to have their resumes posted online.

While 49% of Americans say they have used the Internet to look for a job before, nearly the same number (48%) say they have not. Again, while most men (54%) say they have used the Internet to look for employment before, most women (52%) say they have not.

In March, 45% of adults said it is possible for anyone in America looking for work to find a job, but 41% disagreed.

Polling conducted last month found that that 60% of working Americans say it will be their choice when they leave their current job, down nine points from April.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... employment