Latest Release: 2024 Q4

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

⇧ 3.7

Expectations Index

Job seeker optimism about the medium-term labor market outlook rose substantially.

⇧ 3.5

Preparedness Index

Job seekers’ confidence in their ability to navigate the job search process reached the highest level since the start of the survey in early 2022.

⇧ 6.9

Financial Wellbeing Index

Self-reported financial wellbeing rebounded from an all-time low in the third quarter.

⇧ 6.8

Present Situation Index

Job seekers’ assessments of current labor market conditions bounced back strongly.

U.S. Job Seeker Confidence

The ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence Index jumped 5.9 points in the final quarter of 2024, reaching 96.1—its highest level since the first quarter and nearing its baseline of 100. Gains were broad-based, with all four subindexes showing improvement. Particularly notable were sharp increases in job seekers’ assessments of current job market conditions and their personal financial situations, almost erasing the losses sustained earlier in the year. 

“Job seekers are regaining confidence as wage growth continues to outpace inflation and personal finances recover."

— Julia Pollak, ZipRecruiter Chief Economist

Stabilizing Sentiment

Job seekers are feeling more optimistic. After more than two years of steady deterioration, sentiment improved in the fourth quarter, with a larger share of job seekers expressing confidence in the availability of jobs and describing their search experience in positive terms.

Still, pessimism prevails: more than twice as many job seekers characterize their experience as poor rather than good. Job hunting has always been tough, and became progressively more so for many U.S. workers over the past two years. With the downward slide in many survey measures halting and sentiment stabilizing, however, the fourth quarter may mark a turning point.

Job Seekers’ Top Policy Priorities Ahead of 2025 and a New Administration

As the nation prepares for the inauguration of a new administration in Washington, D.C., ZipRecruiter surveyed job seekers to identify their top policy priorities for 2025. We asked them to rank 15 key issues in order of importance, with 1 being the most important and 15 being the least important. The results reveal a focus on economic and safety-related issues amidst ongoing uncertainty.

Economic stability emerged as the highest priority, with a mean ranking of 5.5, reflecting job seekers’ deep concerns about financial security and the broader economy. Closely tied to this are concerns about housing affordability and availability (7.3), which ranked among the top priorities. Together, these issues highlight the critical importance of addressing inflation, particularly in housing costs, as Americans navigate challenging economic conditions.

Other safety issues and basic needs also feature prominently. Crime and public safety (7.2) rank third, underscoring worries about community safety. Healthcare access, affordability, and quality was another key issue, ranking second overall with a mean score of 6.5, as Americans continue to grapple with rising health insurance costs and access challenges. Immigration policy (7.5) also ranks highly, reflecting its importance as a policy focus for the new administration.

Lower-ranked priorities include labor unions and labor rights (10.1), infrastructure development (9.1), race relations and civil rights (9.1), and climate change and environmental policy (8.7), suggesting these issues, while important to many, are overshadowed by more immediate economic and safety concerns as 2025 begins. As the new Administration gets off the ground, our findings provide valuable insights into the priorities against which the American workforce will evaluate it.

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 1,500+ 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.