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U.S. workers fret most about benefits cuts: poll

Xinhua, September 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. workers worry more about having their benefits cut than having their salary slashed, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.

More U.S. workers say they worry more about having their benefits reduced, at 30 percent, than having their wages cut, at 20 percent, than being laid off, at 19 percent, or than having their hours cut back, at 17 percent, Gallup found.

Benefits cuts consistently have been the top worry since Gallup first asked the question in 1997. U.S. workers' worries about these possibilities generally have eased since 2014 after rising sharply following the 2008 financial crisis and staying elevated during the ensuing period of high unemployment.

The data are based on Gallup's annual Work and Education poll conducted in August.

It is clear the financial crisis and periods of high unemployment caused an increasing number of U.S. workers to feel insecure about their jobs, including worrying about their pay, benefits and whether they would keep their jobs at all, the poll found.

Those fears remained elevated for several years after the recession before finally showing some signs of receding in the last three years, Gallup found.

A lasting effect of the recession appears to be heightened worry about benefits cuts among public sector employees. Some state and local governments have struggled to balance their budgets and have been forced to re-examine whether they can pay promised levels of retirement and health benefits for current and past employees.

Government workers and unionized workers are significantly more likely than non-government and nonunion workers to worry about having their benefits reduced, the poll found.

According to combined data from the 2014-2016 Work and Education surveys, 46 percent of government workers and 45 percent of union workers say they worry their benefits will be reduced.

That compares with 32 percent of those employed by a private company and 31 percent of nonunion workers, Gallup found.

Government workers, many of whom are also unionized, often have more generous benefits packages than private sector workers, and thus they have more to lose if their employers cut benefits. Endi