For years, younger Americans have been more hopeful about the job market than their older counterparts — even during tough economic times like the Great Recession. But that pattern has flipped sharply, according to a new Gallup World Poll released Monday.
The survey shows a striking generational divide in the United States. Only 43% of Americans ages 15 to 34 say it is “a good time” to find a job where they live. In contrast, 64% of those 55 and older feel optimistic about job prospects. This gap is now larger in the U.S. than in any of the 141 countries surveyed.
Around the world, the trend usually runs in the opposite direction. Globally, younger people tend to be more positive about local job markets than older ones. The median share of young people who say it’s a good time to find work is 48%, compared with 38% for older adults.
“This is an incredibly new phenomenon,” said Benedict Vigers of Gallup. He noted that last year marked the first time in decades of polling that young Americans were more pessimistic about jobs than their peers in other developed countries.
A sudden shift
Young people typically feel more confident about finding work because they have fewer family responsibilities, fewer physical limitations, and can adapt more quickly to new opportunities. However, the U.S. is now one of only five countries — along with China, Hong Kong, Norway, Serbia, and the United Arab Emirates — where younger adults are at least 10 percentage points more pessimistic than older ones.
Young Americans’ optimism has dropped sharply since 2023. The share of those under 35 who say it’s a good time to find a job fell by 27 percentage points between 2023 and 2025. That decline is similar in scale to what young people experienced during the 2008 financial crisis. Older Americans, however, have barely changed their views.
This pessimism among the young is not limited to one group. It appears across college graduates and those without degrees, men and women, and those still looking for their first job. The most frustrated appear to be young people without a first job, recent college graduates, and young women.
Different views of the broader economy
The job market divide matches a larger split in how generations see the U.S. economy. A recent AP-NORC poll found that about 8 in 10 adults under 35 describe the economy as poor. Among adults 55 and older, only about 6 in 10 feel the same way.
Younger Americans also worry more about issues like housing costs and entry-level job opportunities. Many fear that artificial intelligence could eliminate jobs traditionally open to new workers. Older Americans, who are more likely to own homes and be retired or out of the job market, tend to have a sunnier outlook.
John Della Volpe, a pollster who studies youth opinion at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, said many young people feel frustrated that older generations don’t understand their challenges. “It’s just another thing that drains their mental health,” he said, describing the sense that previous generations had an easier path.
Political implications
This generational rift is influencing American politics. Young voters have shown strong concern about economic issues such as housing affordability and have expressed less trust in institutions. In the 2024 election, pocketbook concerns mattered a great deal to younger voters. While former President Donald Trump made gains with this group by promising economic prosperity and lower costs, recent polling shows many under 35 now disapprove of his handling of the economy and cost of living.
Young Americans’ current level of job market optimism is close to what it was in 2010, during the depths of the Great Recession. Their pessimism stands out even more because young people in the United States have historically been among the most optimistic in the world.
The Gallup World Poll results are based on telephone interviews with about 1,000 U.S. adults conducted from June 14 to July 16, 2025. The margin of error for the U.S. sample is ±4.4 percentage points.
