Latest Release: 2024 Q1

The ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence Survey

The ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence Survey is a nationally representative quarterly survey of U.S. job seekers that measures how optimistic or pessimistic they are about their ability to land their preferred jobs. Increased confidence is typically an indicator of future increases in employee turnover, wage growth, and labor force participation.

Data Spotlight

⇧ 5.2

Expectations Index

Job seeker optimism about the medium-term labor market outlook soared to a series high.

⇧ 3.4

Preparedness Index

Job seekers’ confidence in their ability to navigate the job search process rose substantially.

⇧ 1.4

Financial Wellbeing Index

Job seekers reported improved financial wellbeing and lower financial stress.

⇧ 3.1

Present Situation Index

Job seekers’ assessments of current labor market conditions improved substantially.

U.S. Job Seeker Confidence

The ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence Index rose 2.8 points to 98.9 in 2023 Q4 (Index: 2022 Q1 = 100), the highest reading since 2022 Q2. All four subindexes rose, especially the Expectations Index, which measures job seeker optimism about the future labor market outlook.

"Job seekers are feeling less anxious thanks to a resilient labor market, rallying stock market, and falling subjective recession odds. Higher job seeker confidence is leading candidates to feel bolder about negotiating their offers."

— Julia Pollak, ZipRecruiter Chief Economist

Job Seekers Have Mixed Feelings About Current Labor Market

Job seeker confidence continued its steady improvement among women with college degrees, while softening among men with college degrees, remaining depressed among women without college degrees, and remaining highly volatile among men without college degrees. Confidence rose among workers of all races and ages, except those aged 65 and older. 



The major drivers of the increase in overall job seeker confidence were:

  • rising confidence among job seekers that they would get interviews and offers, and be able to find new jobs within a month;

  • rising confidence among job seekers that they have the right skills for the job opportunities currently available; and  

  • rising confidence that the availability of jobs would increase over the following six months.

Job search satisfaction has now improved for three straight quarters, but remains lower than in early 2022, with 34% of job seekers saying their job search is going poorly and only 17% saying it is going well. 

Stable Layoffs, Rising Layoff Anxiety

The layoff rate is historically low, with just 1.0% of U.S. workers getting laid off or fired from their jobs each month, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That rate is 20% lower than the 1.2% average each year between 2016 and 2019. Among the pool of U.S. job seekers, the share who were laid off from their prior job has been stable in recent months, at between 10% and 12%. Yet, despite relatively low and stable layoffs, layoff anxiety is on the rise. 

For the past three quarters, ZipRecruiter has asked job seekers to estimate the likelihood that they will be laid off (whether from their current job or a new job) within the next six months. The average subjective layoff probability rose from 24% in 2023 Q3 to 26% in 2023 Q4, and again to 29% in 2024 Q1. That’s despite the fact that the average worker’s likelihood of being laid off in the last six months was just 6%. In other words, job seekers may be overestimating their chance of being laid off nearly five-fold, with layoff anxiety highest among workers who perform their jobs remotely.

Remote Work Is More Popular Among Job Seekers Than Ever Before

Among employed job seekers, only 10% currently work fully remotely and 9% have a hybrid arrangement. But 65% say they would prefer for their next job to be remote or hybrid. That figure has been closer to 60% for most of the past two years but jumped in 2024 Q1.

Return to office mandates may be increasing the numbers of job seekers who prefer remote work. Among job seekers who quit their last job, 11% say they left in order to work remotely. Employed job seekers are about twice as likely to feel dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their current job if it is fully in person, rather than fully remote or hybrid.

ZipRecruiter asked job seekers which feature of corporate life they would lead a rebellion against if they could, and the top answer was the nine-to-five in-office schedule (27%), followed by the CEO-to-worker pay gap (26%), mandatory dress codes (13%), the use of layoffs to resize the workforce (12%), hierarchical organizational structures (9%), and a lack of diversity (8%).

Job Seekers Perceive Widespread Bias and Discrimination in the Hiring Process

40% of job seekers say they think they are being discriminated against in their job search. The leading bases identified for the perceived discrimination against them are as follows: 

  • Age (47%)

  • Race (20%)

  • Resume gaps (19%) 

  • Sex (13%)

  • Religion (6%)

  • Gender identity (5%)

  • Sexual orientation (4%)

Election Season: Which Presidential Candidate Do Job Seekers Think Would Be Best for Jobs? 


Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, ZipRecruiter asked job seekers about their political affiliation and their thoughts about the presidential candidates who were still in the running at the time of the survey. 

Although job seekers were more likely to say they are Democrats than Republicans, they were also more likely to say they think the election of Donald Trump would be best for their job search prospects. 

In our Q1 job seeker survey, 36% of job seekers described themselves as Democrats, 28% as Republicans, 28% as independents, and 8% as something else. Yet the candidate the plurality said they thought would be best for their job search prospects was Donald Trump, with 38%, followed by Joe Biden (33%), Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (11%), Nikki Haley (8%), Dean Phillips (3%), Cornel West (3%), and Ryan Binkley (1%).  

The Survey

The quarterly ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence Survey is based on an online sample and conducted for ZipRecruiter by Qualtrics. It is administered to 2,000+ job seekers between the 10th and 16th of the second month of each quarter and weighted to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Respondents may be employed, unemployed, or not currently in the labor force, but they must reside in the United States and plan to find a new job “in the next six months” in order to be included in the sample.

The ZipRecruiter Index

The overall ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence Index comprises four subindices:

  • The Preparedness Index measures how confident job seekers feel about their job skills, education, and training, as well as about their job search skills—that is, their ability to find relevant positions, develop application materials, and interview effectively.

  • The Financial Wellbeing Index measures job seekers’ financial security—that is, whether they have peace of mind about their ability to meet their financial needs, or whether they are searching for work and negotiating job offers under financial pressure.

  • The Expectations Index captures job seekers’ short-term outlook for labor market conditions. It is based on questions about whether job seekers expect the number of available jobs to increase or decrease.

  • The Present Situation Index is based on job seekers’ assessment of current labor market conditions. It is based on questions about whether they expect to get interviews, find a job easily, and get the job they want, and how satisfied they are with their job search.