Young workers aren't feeling optimistic about the job market

Marketplace Morning Report

Marketplace

News, Business

4.5 • 927 Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Younger workers typically feel more optimistic about the job market than older ones, but a new Gallup poll found that only 43% of Americans aged 15 to 34 thought that last year was a good time to find a job. That’s compared to 64% of those above the age of 55. The optimism of young workers has dropped by 27 points since 2023, potentially signaling the influence of AI. Plus: a breakdown of the costs, both human and financial, of Nebraska’s Medicaid eligibility rollout and a look into the impact of rising gas prices on inflation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Storms, floods, and fires are ever more extreme.
0:04.2	And yet, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is fighting for its life.
0:08.5	I've never been a big fan of FEMA.
0:10.0	FEMA's a disaster.
0:11.1	FEMA's a dirty way.
0:11.9	People are waking up in droves to the FEMA camps.
0:14.8	Can the agency survive the stories that have been told about it?
0:18.2	And can we survive without FEMA?
0:20.6	American Emergency, the Movement to Kill FEMA, is a brand new series from WNYC's On the Media.
0:27.2	Listen, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:31.2	There is an optimism age gap from Marketplace. I'm Sabri Benhoor in New York. There are many divides between the
0:39.4	generations, and one that's currently emerging comes courtesy of the labor market. Gen Z is feeling
0:44.7	pretty gloomy about the job market, while older Americans are feeling more optimistic. This is from a
0:50.7	Gallup poll out today. Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genzor has that. Gallup found that last year only 43% of Americans aged 15 to 34 thought it was a good time to find a job.
1:02.0	That's 21 percentage points lower than the rate for Americans age 55 and up.
1:07.1	Usually fresh new workers are more upbeat than older employees, but Gallup says younger Americans' optimism about the job market has fallen by 27 points since 2023, with the biggest drop among the most educated young women and those without a full-time job. Part of the gloom may be because young job seekers are worried about AI eliminating entry-level positions, although the Gallup poll didn't ask about that.
1:32.5	Gen Z workers in the U.S. are also more pessimistic than their peers in most other advanced economies, where young adults are still more upbeat than older workers.
1:41.8	I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace.
1:45.2	President Trump has rejected Iran's latest response in negotiations to end the war. And right on
1:50.7	cue, the price of oil is on its way back up. Brent Crude is over $104 a barrel. The price of gas
1:56.3	in the U.S. is also rising, $4.52 a gallon on average, and that is seeping its way into inflation.
2:04.3	Julia Coronado is founder of macro policy perspectives and a professor at U.T. Austin and is here to talk about it.
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