‘The Big Money Show’ panel reacts to new data showing Gen Z hiring is down, while older workers are staying in the workforce longer.
A new report from Gallup shows that American workers are less optimistic about job environment And engagement levels with their current jobs have remained relatively flat.
Gallup released its 2026 State of the Global Workplace report on Wednesday, showing that 51% of global workers think it’s a good time to find one. quality workSentiment among US workers dropped to 28% in the fourth quarter of 2025.
This figure represents a significant decline from 46% in the fourth quarter of 2024, which continues a steep decline from the 70% reading in the second quarter of 2022.
“People with degrees are having a particularly difficult time finding a job,” Jim Harter, Gallup’s chief scientist for workplace management and well-being, told Fox Business. “So there’s actually kind of an interesting dynamic going on right now, where unemployment is quite low, it’s increasing a little bit, but hiring is not happening.”
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Gallup’s report shows declining participation as well as falling engagement levels among American workers. (Robin Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
“In terms of the job environment, people are feeling trapped where they are, in terms of freedom. Part of the solution to that is that organizations really need to get better at driving systems of solid performance management and good communication Managers and Employees,” Harter said.
When employees feel trapped and don’t have a choice about finding another quality job, Harter said their “engagement will start to go down, and active disengagement will start to increase when people lack options because they’re stuck in jobs they don’t want.”
Gallup found that workers who said they were looking for a new job reported applying for multiple jobs and not getting much of a response.
“We see people applying for jobs, but they’re not getting much of a response. There’s not much going on right now from a recruiting standpoint,” Harter said. “Right now is not a really good time to recruit and, again, unemployment is very lowSo people are in jobs – but these are jobs that they don’t consider to be high-quality jobs.”
Economists say the pace of wage gains for American workers slowed in March despite strong hiring.
Harter said employees who are actively looking for new jobs have struggled to get a response. (Joe Raddle/Getty Images)
Harter said that among respondents who said they had the ability to multitask, their perceptions of the job environment were more favorable.
“I think that’s a big factor in terms of upgrading skills related to ai “This could be a large component of people being able to find jobs in the future,” he said.
The report’s findings also demonstrated conditions of what Gallup has called “Great Detachment”, in which people are actively looking for work or searching for vacancies, while also reporting low levels of satisfaction with their current employer.
“Even though employees may have fewer options to leave their employer and go elsewhere, psychological changes mean they are not contributing their full potential to help improve the organization,” Harter said.
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Harter said that highly successful organizations have high levels of engagement among workers. (Joe Raddle/Getty Images)
The report also found that the three-year rolling average of engaged workers dropped one point to 31%, with 52% of workers not engaged and 17% actively disengaged. At 31%, the level of engagement among American workers is at its lowest since 2014, while the share of actively disengaged workers, at 17%, was also at 2014 levels.
In contrast, Harter said that top organizations have 70% or more of their employees employed managers who are engaged To an even greater extent.
“When you look closely at the organizations that are really doing great work right now, they’re figuring out ways to make it happen,” he said. “They really provide skills to their managers, they get people into the right managerial roles – that helps when you level up the organization and people can take a higher level of control as managers. They help people see how their work connects to the bigger purpose of the organisation.”
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“What we’re talking about here is very solvable, but right now it’s a tough, headwinds battle where leaders have to be very intentional about what they do with their employees and especially their managers and how they’re willing to coach people on a regular basis and help people feel like they’re a part of what the overall organization is trying to do,” Harter said.
