Young people feel unheard by those who don't grasp how much harder the pathway has become
Something has quietly fractured in the American economic imagination: for the first time in recorded polling history, young Americans are more pessimistic about the job market than their peers in other wealthy democracies. Gallup's survey of 141 nations reveals that the United States now holds the widest generational gap in employment outlook on earth — a divide not born of recession, but of diverging lived realities between those who own the present economy and those still trying to enter it. The young have not lost faith in work itself, but in whether the path to stability remains passable for them.
- Young Americans' job market confidence has collapsed by 27 percentage points since 2023 — a freefall matching the devastation of the 2008 financial crisis, yet happening in a technically healthy economy.
- The chasm is generational, not national: older Americans, shielded by retirement and homeownership, have barely shifted in their optimism, making the U.S. the most age-divided country in the world on this measure.
- Eight in ten adults under 35 now call the U.S. economy poor, and the anxiety cuts across gender, education level, and background — a near-universal pessimism among the young that pollsters say is also eroding mental health.
- The political fallout is already visible: younger voters who backed Trump's prosperity platform in 2024 are souring rapidly, with roughly eight in ten now disapproving of his handling of the economy and cost of living.
- Artificial intelligence and vanishing entry-level positions loom over the generation's future, deepening the fear that the labor market is being restructured in ways that punish newcomers most.
Something has shifted in how young Americans see their economic future, and the numbers mark a genuine historical break. For the first time in Gallup's decades of polling, young people in the United States are more pessimistic about the job market than their counterparts in other developed nations. Among 141 countries surveyed, the generational divide between young and old Americans is wider than anywhere else on earth.
The reversal is striking because American youth have traditionally been the optimists of the global workforce — fewer obligations, more flexibility, more time. But between 2023 and 2025, the share of younger Americans who said it was a good time to find work fell by 27 percentage points. That's the same magnitude of decline experienced during the 2008 financial crisis. The difference this time is that older Americans' views barely moved.
The economic landscape simply looks different depending on your age. About eight in ten adults under 35 describe the U.S. economy as poor. Among those 55 and older, it's closer to six in ten. Older Americans are more likely to be retired and to own homes — a foundation of wealth that has grown increasingly out of reach for younger generations. Pollsters report that young people feel profoundly unheard by older generations who don't grasp how much harder the pathway has become, and researchers note that this sense of incomprehension has become its own drain on mental health.
The pessimism spreads across all subgroups of younger Americans — college graduates, those without degrees, men and women alike. The timing coincides with the early months of Trump's second term and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, which many fear will eliminate the entry-level positions that have historically served as footholds into the economy.
The fracture has already reshaped politics. Economic anxiety drove younger voters' choices in 2024, and Trump made gains among this group by promising prosperity and affordability. But recent polling suggests that promise is already fraying — roughly eight in ten adults under 35 now disapprove of how the president is handling the economy. The gap between generations, between who benefits from the current system and who feels locked out of it, shows every sign of deepening.
Something has shifted in how young Americans see their economic future, and the numbers suggest it's a break from history. For the first time in decades of polling, young people in the United States are now more pessimistic about the job market than their counterparts in other developed nations. Among 141 countries surveyed by Gallup, this generational divide—the gap between what young people think about work and what older people think—is wider here than anywhere else on earth.
The reversal is stark. Young Americans have traditionally been the optimists of the global workforce. They have fewer obligations, more flexibility, and the physical stamina to chase opportunity. But last year, that pattern broke. Younger Americans now rank 87th globally in job market expectations, a position that would be unremarkable except for what it represents: the first time in Gallup's history that American youth have fallen behind their peers in other wealthy democracies. Only four other countries—China, Hong Kong, Norway, Serbia, and the United Arab Emirates—show a similar pattern, where the young are at least 10 percentage points more pessimistic than the old.
The decline happened suddenly. Every age group in America saw confidence in the job market drop after 2023, following a brief post-pandemic recovery in 2021 and 2022. But those 34 and younger experienced a collapse. Between 2023 and 2025, the share of younger Americans who said it was "a good time" to find work fell by 27 percentage points. That's the same magnitude of decline young people experienced during the 2008 financial crisis. The difference is that older Americans' views barely budged this time. They've held steady, even as their younger counterparts have grown increasingly despondent.
The economic landscape looks fundamentally different depending on your age. About eight in ten adults under 35 describe the U.S. economy as poor, according to recent polling by AP-NORC. Among those 55 and older, it's closer to six in ten. Older Americans are more likely to be retired, no longer competing for work, and more likely to own homes—a foundation of wealth that has become increasingly out of reach for younger generations. The frustration runs deep. Pollsters who regularly survey young Americans report that they feel unheard by older generations who don't grasp how much harder the pathway has become. One Harvard Kennedy School researcher noted that young people describe this incomprehension as another drain on their mental health.
The pessimism extends across all subgroups of younger Americans. Those without a first job, college graduates, and young women report the highest frustration, but the anxiety spreads widely—to men, to those without college degrees, to nearly everyone under 35. The timing coincides with the beginning of President Trump's second term and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, which many fear will eliminate entry-level positions and transform the labor market in ways that disadvantage newcomers.
This generational fracture has already reshaped politics. Economic anxiety—housing costs, job prospects, the cost of living—drove younger voters' choices in the 2024 election. Trump improved his performance among this group by running on a platform of prosperity and affordability. But recent polling suggests some younger Americans have already soured on that promise. About eight in ten adults under 35 now disapprove of how the president is handling the economy and cost of living, compared with about six in ten older adults.
The divide points toward a widening political and social chasm. Young Americans' current pessimism about work now registers at levels not seen since 2010, when the country was still deep in recession. Yet the economy is not in recession. The difference is that young people have lost faith in their own prospects within it, while older Americans, insulated by retirement and property ownership, have not. That gap—between the lived experience of different generations, between who benefits from the current system and who feels left behind—is likely to intensify the generational divides already visible in American politics.
Notable Quotes
It's an incredibly new phenomenon. Last year was the first time in Gallup's decades of polling that young Americans were more pessimistic about the job market than their peers in other developed countries.— Benedict Vigers, Gallup
Young people are frequently frustrated at how prior generations don't understand their current economic challenges. It's just another thing that drains their mental health.— John Della Volpe, Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why is this moment different from, say, 2008? Young people were pessimistic then too.
In 2008, everyone got pessimistic together. Older Americans saw their retirement accounts crater. Young people saw no jobs. This time, older Americans are fine. They're not competing for work anymore. Young people are alone in their worry.
So it's not really about the job market itself?
It's about who the job market works for. If you own a home and you're retired, the economy feels stable. If you're 28 and trying to afford rent and find entry-level work, it feels like the floor is gone.
The poll mentions AI and Trump's second term as timing. Do young people blame those things specifically?
The timing matters because it's when the pessimism accelerated. But the deeper issue is that young people feel like the rules changed after they were supposed to follow them. Go to college, get a job, buy a house. Except housing is unaffordable, entry-level jobs are scarce, and now AI might eliminate what little is left.
What does it mean that young Americans rank 87th globally in job optimism?
It means America used to be the place where young people felt most hopeful about work. That was a real thing—a genuine advantage. Now we're below average. We've become like everywhere else, except we're supposed to be better.
Do older Americans understand what's happening?
That's the fracture. Older Americans see the economy as stable because it is stable for them. Young people see it as broken because it is broken for them. And when older people say "it wasn't that hard for us," young people hear: you're just not trying hard enough. That gap in understanding is its own kind of damage.