One of the larger parts of the current economic crisis has been unemployment. In fact, when economists were speaking about economic recovery, they often stated it could be a jobless recovery. Americans feel the employment woes, as two-thirds of them (66%) say the current job market of their region is bad, 22% say it is neither good nor bad and only 12% say it is good.

Looking at it by region, those in the Midwest and West are feeling these employment problems the most. Seven in ten Westerners (71%) and Midwesterners (70%) say the current job market is bad. The job market in the East seems the "best" as almost one in five Easterners (17%) say it is good while three in five (60%) say it is bad.

Job market in six months

Looking ahead for the job market, there does not seem to be much optimism. When asked how they think the job market in their region will change in the next six months, over one-quarter of U.S. adults (27%) say it will get worse, half (49%) believe it will remain the same and under one-quarter (23%) believe it will get better. Americans were a little more optimistic at the beginning of the summer. In June, just over one-quarter of U.S. adults (26%) said they thought the job market in their region would be better, over half (53%) thought it would remain the same and one in five (21%) believed it would get worse.

Concerns about being unemployed

While they may not think the job market in their area is good, there are mixed concerns among Americans about the main income earner becoming unemployed. Two in five U.S. adults (38%) say they are concerned, with 16% saying they are very concerned and 22% saying they are somewhat concerned that the main income earner in their household will be unemployed in the next six months. However, three in five (62%) are not concerned, with one-third of Americans (32%) saying they are not at all concerned that the income earner in their household will lose their job in the next six months.

So what?

Regardless of any positive indicators for the overall economy, if jobs are always something on people's minds, Americans will not believe those positive indicators. The high unemployment numbers are something people can see on a regular basis and, while they may not have large concerns about losing their jobs, they know the job market is not good.