New Gallup data confirm that the personal and professional environment of U.S. workers was worse at the end of 2025 than at any point in the past three years across several important metrics. For the first time since Gallup began tracking the life evaluation of the U.S. workforce, more workers report struggling in their lives (49%) than thriving (46%): a stark reversal from 2022 and 2023 when more than half of employees were classified as thriving. This is coupled with U.S. worker engagement dropping to the lowest level on record in the past decade at 31% engaged employees.

Similar trends cut across multiple dimensions of economic perceptions. Confidence in the job market has collapsed to a new low, with just 28% of workers saying now is a good time to find a quality job, down from 70% in mid-2022. More than half of workers are actively looking for a new job or at least watching for opportunities. And nearly half of those actively searching report it has been a negative experience, with many unable to land an interview.

Some workers are feeling the strain more acutely than others. The life thriving rate of federal workers has decreased 12 percentage points on average since 2022. For the first time in the past three years, college-educated workers are the most pessimistic about the job market, and younger workers are more likely than older ones to say it is a bad time to find a good quality job.

The data point to a workforce that is restless but largely stuck. Many workers who want to leave cite economic constraints — from pay and benefits to the difficulty of finding a comparable role — as the primary barriers to making a move. With life evaluation at a record low and job market confidence near historic lows, the conditions weighing on U.S. workers show few signs of easing.

More U.S. Workers Struggling Than Thriving

For the first time since Gallup began measuring the life evaluation of the American workforce, more U.S. workers are struggling in their lives (49%) than thriving (46%). This contrasts with 2022 and 2023, when the reverse was true, with the share of U.S. employees considered “thriving” staying in the low-to-mid 50s — a mark of relative resilience after pandemic disruptions. After staying steady between 57% and 60% from 2009 to 2019, the thriving rate among workers fell to 55% in 2020 before rebounding in 2021 then steadily decreasing after that.

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