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Economy
U.S. Employees Increasingly Seeing COVID-19 Effects at Work
Economy

U.S. Employees Increasingly Seeing COVID-19 Effects at Work

Story Highlights

  • 29% of U.S. workers say employer has cut jobs, cut hours or frozen hiring
  • 52% say cutbacks at work are affecting their financial situation
  • 81% expect a negative effect on their workplace from COVID-19

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Nearly three in 10 employed Americans now say that their employer has cut jobs, reduced hours or frozen hiring as a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak, marking an 18-percentage-point increase since mid-March. Part-time workers are more likely than those employed full time to report these negative effects on their workplace.

Part-Time Workers Seeing More Negative Effects From COVID-19
Has your employer cut jobs, reduced hours or frozen hiring as the result of the coronavirus? (% Yes)
March 13-16 March 17-19 March 20-23
% % %
Employed U.S. adults 11 21 29
Employed part time 18 29 38
Employed full time 11 19 27
Gallup Panel

These data are from a probability-based Gallup Panel survey conducted online March 20-23 as major parts of the U.S. economy continued to shut down because of the expanding COVID-19 pandemic. Gallup's tracking of these questions specific to employees finds that since mid-March, U.S. workers have reported seeing a more personal impact from employers' cutbacks.

While 56% of employed Americans said earlier this month that their financial situation was not affected by cutbacks at work, that percentage has since slipped to 48%. Over half of U.S. employees (52%) now say they are being affected -- with 28% describing the impact as "minor" and 24% as "major."

U.S. Workers Reporting More Personal Financial Impact From COVID-19
How have these cuts impacted your financial situation?
March 13-16 March 17-19 March 20-23
% % %
Major impact on my financial situation 21 20 24
Minor impact on my financial situation 23 33 28
No impact on my financial situation 56 47 48
Gallup Panel

Employed Americans -- who earlier in March already anticipated seeing a negative impact on their workplace -- are now even more likely to say the COVID-19 outbreak will have a "very negative" effect. Eighty-one percent of workers now expect a negative effect, up from 74%.

U.S. Workers Expect Negative Effects on Workplace
What type of effect do you think the coronavirus will have on your company/workplace?
March 13-16 March 17-19 March 20-23
% % %
Very negative effect 17 21 23
Somewhat negative effect 57 58 58
No effect 21 16 12
Somewhat positive effect 4 4 7
Very positive effect 1 1 1
Gallup Panel

If there is a bright spot for employers, it lies in the fact that about four in five workers have consistently said they are confident they will continue to successfully meet the requirements of their job should the outbreak continue.


Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/305237/employees-increasingly-seeing-covid-effects-work.aspx
Gallup World Headquarters, 901 F Street, Washington, D.C., 20001, U.S.A
+1 202.715.3030