The Future of Jobs.

Global employee perceptions of the job market improved in 2025, following a decline the previous year. As the global economy recovered from the pandemic in 2022, so did job market optimism. In 2023, the percentage of employees who said it was "a good time" to find a job almost tied its 2019 record of 55%. The last two years, however, have seen job market perceptions lower than at the start of the recovery in 2022. In 2025, job market perceptions improved by one percentage point from the previous year to 52%, with a margin of error of ±0.1 percentage point. The 2025 increase in job market optimism came entirely from non-remote-capable, fully on-site workers (+2 points). Job market optimism dropped for fully remote workers (-5 points) and remote-capable, fully on-site workers (-14), while optimism remained flat among hybrid workers. The drop in optimism among remote-capable workers could be due to possible declines in remote job opportunities caused by changes in employer policies or the automation of knowledge work.

In 2025, job market optimism fell sharply in the Australia/New Zealand (-12 points) and the United States/Canada (-10) regions. Post-pandemic Australia/New Zealand has typically had the best job market in the world, based on employee perceptions. Last year, they fell to second place behind Southeast Asia. The United States/Canada region, however, is now second-to-last in regional job market rankings. Since 2019, this region has fallen 23 points, from 70% to 47%. U.S. business media reported on a “no hire, no fire” job climate for most of 2025; more recent revisions to official jobs numbers found that the U.S. added 181,000 jobs last year, compared with 1.5 million theyear before. Gallup’s U.S. employee job market survey tracks official jobs data closely. When employees feel they have a choice in their work, they are nearly 50% more likely to say it’s a good time to find a job. In partnership with PERSOL and the Wellbeing for Planet Earth Foundation, Gallup has found that when employees feel they have a lot of choice in the work they can do, they are more optimistic about the job market. This holds across every region of the world. As technologies like Artificial Intelligence reshape the world of work, upskilling will likely be an essential part of employee hope for the future.

The Global employee perceptions of the job market improved in 2025, though still below their 2019 peak.

U.S. data show concerns about AI-related job losses are rising. In Q1 of 2026, 18% of U.S. employees said it was "very" or "somewhat" likely their job would be eliminated in the next five years due to technological innovations, such as automation or artificial intelligence. In organizations where AI has been implemented, that figure rises to 23%. In some industries, such as finance (32%), insurance (32%) and technology (31%), it is much higher. A separate Gallup survey in Germany found that 19% of German employees in organizations that use AI said it was very or somewhat likely that their job would be eliminated in five years due to automation or AI.

Large U.S. employers are more likely to reduce their workforce after implementing AI; smaller employers are more likely to expand their workforce.

 In Q1 of 2026, Gallup asked U.S. employees if their employer was expanding or reducing the size of their workforce. Among employees in organizations where AI has been implemented, those who worked in large organizations (10,000+ employees) were more likely to say their employer was reducing their workforce (33%) than expanding (30%). However, those working in smaller organizations, for example, 5,000-10,000 employees, were more likely to say their employer was expanding (38%) vs. reducing (23%) their workforce. Organizations that have begun implementing AI are more likely to change the size of their workforce — either by expanding or reducing headcount — than those that have not adopted AI. While AI is reconfiguring organizations, the effects so far on employment are not uniformly negative.