Story Highlights
- Index is similar to March's +32 and scores from the past year
- Nongovernment hiring remains stronger than government hiring
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Employed Americans' reports of hiring activity where they work were essentially unchanged in April, keeping Gallup's Job Creation Index near its highest level ever recorded. The index averaged +30 in April, similar to the nine-year high of +32 reached in March, as well as on several other occasions over the past 11 months.
Workers' perceptions of their employers' hiring have been relatively steady over the past couple of years, with index scores at or above +27 since May 2014. Upon reaching a new high of +32 in May 2015, the index held at this figure for six months straight. It has hovered around that level ever since, and matched the record high yet again in March.
As part of Gallup's Daily tracking survey, interviewers ask a random sample of employed adults nationwide each day whether their employers are increasing, reducing or maintaining the size of their workforces. Last month, 42% of workers reported an increase and 12% a decrease, resulting in the April Job Creation Index score of +30. The latest results are based on interviews conducted April 1-30 with 17,935 full- and part-time U.S. workers.
The last time more workers reported that their employer was letting people go than said their employer was hiring -- resulting in a negative index score -- was in January 2010. Since then, reports of both hiring and letting go have markedly improved, while the percentage saying their employer's workforce hasn't changed has declined just slightly.
Hiring in Government, Nongovernment Sectors Each Down Slightly
Reports of hiring in nongovernment workplaces ebbed a bit in April, dipping two points to +31 (based on 42% hiring and 11% letting go). The net hiring score among government workers was also down slightly, at +24 (based on 39% hiring and 15% letting go). Through nearly all of Gallup's trend, private-sector hiring has been stronger than public-sector hiring. The gaps were especially large from 2010 through 2012 but have narrowed in recent years.
Bottom Line
The upcoming Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report is expected to show strong gains in U.S. jobs for April, providing a glimmer of hope after the government's overall glum assessment of the country's economic growth in the first quarter.
Gallup's U.S. Job Creation Index continues to hold steady at its best level in nine years and is running much higher than during the recession and post-recession years. Because the employee reports don't take into account the size of their employers' workforces, the index doesn't equate to actual job growth; however, it provides a rough picture of U.S. job patterns as well as the perspective of working Americans. Americans are more than three times as likely to say their employer is expanding, rather than reducing, its workforce, which bodes well for their view of the economy's overall health.
These data are available in Gallup Analytics.
Survey Methods
Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted April 1-30, 2016, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 17,935 working adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of working adults, the margin of sampling error is ±1 percentage point at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.
Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.
Learn more about how the Gallup U.S. Daily works.
