60% of U.S. workers don't have a 'quality job,' according to new research: The results are 'sobering'

[EarthFirst]

A majority, 60%, of U.S. workers don’t have a “quality job” that provides basic financial well-being, safety and other factors, according to new Gallup research that covers more than 18,000 workers across industries, occupations and types of employment.

Full story at link:

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/16/60percent-of-people-dont-have-a-quality-job-according-to-new-research.html

[GusBob]

1. Which they are stuck in with no prospects for better ones

job hopping is a thing of the past. If you are lucky to have the crappy one you keep it

[patphil]

2. The current unemployment rate is 4.3% as per the BLS.

This isn't all that high, but is an increase over where we were before Trump took office, when it was about 3.7%.
I suspect a lot of the available jobs are either directly or indirectly a result of the undocumented immigrants either being kidnapped off the streets by ICE, or hiding or leaving the country to escape incarceration. And, of course, jobs lost by the insane tariff's we're being subject to.
Most of the available jobs probably aren't good enough to allow job hopping as a means of improving a person's financial position.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

I know, the BLS is now a propaganda arm of the government, but it's the best measure we've got at this time.
In reality, it's probably higher, but the jobs that are out there still aren't going to be good enough to allow for job hopping.
It's a little worse for recent college graduates, at about 4.6% as per the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' July report.
Note, this is a July report. The number is, again, probably higher as of October.

https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2025/aug/recent-college-grads-bear-brunt-labor-market-shifts

[JustAnotherGen]

4. An odd thing I've found

I'm going to write this as gently as possible . . .

Asian Indian American owned placement agencies . . . are trying to recruit me for trade specialist type roles. 6 months to a year contract. Now these jobs are far below my skillset, but the two I've spoken with who cold called me?

They don't understand the job. When I probe for how they connected with their client, they advise this is a 'new product' for them. The second one that got through to me said they had switched from the IT and Engineering field recently.

The Trade Community in the USA is extremely small. Everyone is 2 degrees away from someone else. It wasn't hard to pick up the phone and get to the people who are being 'represented' by these recruiters. Neither was. They had been pitched and were being given candidates (I get these emails as a people leader) but they weren't contracted to do the work.

All of this to say - I think with the Visa and Residency sneakiness by this rotten Admin - these job search agencies may have lost their business. So they are trying to push into something that requires a deep understanding of American Policy. You can't even be a Licensed Customs Broker without Citizenship. And the real kicker? In the Trade? Because there are so few of us? A Trade Compliance search firm would never ask a Senior Leader to be a specialist and pretend that making 80K a year in the tri-state area was some kind of huge salary.

It's just a weird thing going on in the tri-state job Global Trade Market (JFK down to NJ and into Philly Cargo Row).

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. I am amazed whenever I meet someone who loves their job.

Personally, I've never had a job that was better than not working.

[JustAnotherGen]

5. I love my work

It fell into my lap when I as in my mid 30's. I wasted a decade in Marketing/Go To Market work. I love Trade Compliance.

But you have to in order to do the work. It can be very tedious to people who can't pick apart regulations and operationalize them.

[Nittersing]

9. Do you work with Customs?

That's where my nephew works. (And his dad, rip, worked.)

[JustAnotherGen]

11. Often

Trade Compliance Officer/LCB. I feel bad they are being tarnished by the behavior of ICE/HSI.

[Nittersing]

12. Both of them work(ed) out of JFK... sometimes Newark

My late bil worked on (created?) a software program that customs uses and travelled a fair amount training other agents. My nephew charges the tariffs (not sure how all that works) and sometimes goes out and inspects stuff to make sure it's what is being declared.

[JustAnotherGen]

15. Your nephew

Has definitely cleared for me.

Those folks are so nice!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Thank you for that.

[BlueTsunami2018]

13. I'd rather not have to work at all but my job is interesting and sometimes fun.

I don’t love it but I like it. Being a construction electrician is challenging mentally and physically. You get to be creative in planning out how you’re going to make things work and then you get to do it. We have lots of cool toys to play with and do and see things that most people never can. And because it’s a union job it pays a legitimate old school middle class wage and provides excellent benefits and retirement plan.

Of course it’s also very dangerous and subject to the elements but that kind of adds to the fun in a way. It gives you something of a warrior mentality. It’s an adventure.

[Nittersing]

17. I'm a retired HVAC tech for a school district and share your sentiments

It was a growing district so I got to enjoy watching 4 or 5 schools being built while I was there. All these systems are computerized so my job was a great mix of physical and mental exercises. One of our elementaries was built over a deposit of bentonite... with all the HVAC units in the crawl space. At about the 2 or 3 year mark, the ground started lifting and all my units started to get smooshed!!! That was an adventure.

The added plus for me was that the kids got to see a woman in the trades.

[Johnny2X2X]

21. Wow, that's crazy

I can't think of very many people I know who don't like their jobs.

I love mine in aerospace. Most of the people I work with love their jobs too.

My brother loves his job managing the 2nd shift at an auto parts stamping plant.

Sister in law loves being a 4th grade teacher.

My wife loves her job owning and running a gardening business.

I guess my sister doesn't really like her job in health insurance.

[Wounded Bear]

6. The current paradigm about how employment works and individual finance their lives s is changing...

Not sure where it's going, but the whole traditional idea of "get a good job, work hard, and you'll do fine" is collapsing in front of our eyes.

[applegrove]

7. So they don't have good health care in those jobs?

[tinrobot]

8. Tax the effing billionaires who are sucking the middle class dry.

Jeez.

Is it THAT difficult?

[MichMan]

28. How will that make all jobs quality jobs?

Upon reading the link, it wasn't all about pay

[Iris]

14. I just saw an article about how people have lost faith in higher Ed because it doesn't prepare students for high paying

jobs, which I find disingenuous given that there are so few "high paying jobs" out there and that's not higher Ed's fault.

[Johnny2X2X]

22. The income gap

It's still a large income gap between college grads and non college grads. The gap is $1-2M over their careers.

[Iris]

24. That's true. I think the criticism of higher Ed has ulterior motives

[Johnny2X2X]

25. Agree

The corner cases of some Liberal Arts degree grads who owe $200K in student loans is all we hear about.

Those do exist, yes, but the vast majority of college grads are getting good jobs. A college degree is still the best path to the middle class for most young people. A lot of the good jobs still require any degree to even interview for them.

We only hear from the cases where people got degrees that didn't help them land a good job, but they're the minority of college grads. We don't hear much from the majority who got a degree and landed a good entry level job and then worked their ways up.

Republicans hate college grads because they don't want an educated public that will be harder to rule.

I shudder to think where I'd be in my career without my degrees, they've paid for themselves many many times over.

[MichMan]

29. Why are so many people saying they can't pay back their student loans?

If a college degree is worth $1-$2 million in higher salaries, that would seem that taking out loans has a very good ROI. It certainly was in my case

[Johnny2X2X]

32. Right now it's the sling shot effect

Biden had helped borrowers with making payments affordable. And we had the Covid pause on payments. So people were paying nothing for years, then started paying reasonable payments under Biden, and now they've seen their payments double and triple under Trump.

It's like with anything, you get used to paying $300 a month and when that moves to $700 a month, you can't find the budget for it. That's what Trump has done, he killed student loan borrowers and I think we're just starting to see the impact.

[haele]

26. Higher paying jobs require a network to access.

An "education" helps you by training or exposing you to what you need to do the job properly, but it's ultimately the network that gets you the job.

Used to be, the College or University degree could get you an alumni or fraternity/sorority card to help you get above the ground floor/mail room level. That, plus a Union, Military or "Dad's Club" membership could quickly get you on the higher pay lead supervisor or upper management "quality" path by the time you hit your mid/late 30's.

Now, it's just who you know, or if your Social Media presence is "influential" enough.

Your actual talent or quality work or work ethics is not a guarantee you can get quality employment.

[genxlib]

30. I think a lot of that criticism is rooted in the cost

When you could get a degree for 20k, the net benefits were obvious. That is provided that you landed a job in your field.

With college costs spiraling, the cost benefit ratio has declined somewhat.

Combine that with the difficulty of finding a job right out of college and the concerns are not unfounded.

The constant noise around AI taking the jobs has also made people cynical that the investment will pay off. Trade schools are getting a boost from the idea that it will be a long time before AI can fix your plumbing.

Still worth it but not as obvious as previous generations.

[Iris]

33. Right - and one reason of cost increased is lack of state funding

As states allocate lies funding to public universities, families and students make up the diff in higher tuition

[valleyrogue]

16. What does that even mean?

A profession requiring advanced college or professional degrees does not necessarily equal a "quality job." The vast majority of jobs in our country do not require any kind of college degree. It is only because companies stopped doing on-the-job training plus the gutting of unions that college degrees were being used as substitutes for union cards.

A job is an endeavor to help you pay the bills. It is NOT your life and NOT a hobby to the exclusion of everything else. If you are happy in it, that is icing on the cake, but a male-dominated "profession" making six figures isn't better. You are a failure in your "career" if you hate it. I knew lots and lots of attorneys, for example, who hated their jobs, but they were locked in with law school debt and so on.

And BTW, a "career" does not equal being in a profession, especially a male-dominated one. A career is a series of related jobs over a long period of time. One can have a career as an electrician, as a sales clerk, as a secretary or office manager, as a school custodian. A "career" isn't limited to having a professional degree practicing medicine, law, or being a CEO.

The article is elitist trash. There have always been "entry level" jobs, jobs not requiring college degrees, jobs that aren't "professions," jobs that are part-time. That is why I say that article is elitist garbage.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

20. It's not about entry level jobs or jobs that don't require college degrees.

It's about how jobs that *aren't* entry level jobs still aren't enough to live on. There are plenty of teachers with shitty health care, assistant store managers who are homeless, EMTs who live in their parents' basements, construction workers who can't find enough work to ensure the paychecks come regularly.

[JCMach1]

18. We need to wakeup to the fact we need to stop allowing

Third world (or worse) income inequality.

[yardwork]

19. This is why so many people voted for Trump.

[RainCaster]

27. I would NEVER vote for an asshole so much like my bosses

That anyone could do so blows my mind.

[Kid Berwyn]

23. 45 years of trickle down does that.

GOP solution? Defund public education.

[genxlib]

31. I have a theory

That the gig-economy has skewed the economy from properly counting employment.

In the old days, you were either employed or not employed. Now there is this vast grey area where people are "self-employed" between jobs.

Not saying it is a good thing or bad thing. I just think it messes with the numbers.