About
To better understand the public’s attitudes about work, employers, and the government, and improve workplace practices and policy, the Heldrich Center produces the Work Trends surveys regularly. The surveys poll the public on critical workforce issues facing Americans and American businesses.
Chapter 1
Americans’ Attitudes About Work, Employers, and Government
The first Work Trends survey was conducted in August 1998 and explored Americans’ perceptions regarding job satisfaction, job security, career mobility, education and training, and the appropriate role of government in addressing the needs of workers, employers, and job seekers.
Chapter 2
The Tech Boom and Bust: The Disposable American Worker
Multiple studies conducted in the late 1990s and early 2000s evaluated workers’ experiences and perceptions of a labor market transformed by technology and declining conditions. In April 2001, the national unemployment rate climbed to a 30-month high of 4.5%. Businesses trimmed their payrolls by 223,000 jobs, the largest reduction since 1991, a recession year.
Chapter 3
The Impacts of Technology and AI on Jobs
Three studies conducted in 2000, 2018 and 2023 explore how workers in the United States think about the impacts of technology on their jobs, the labor market, and the economy.
Chapter 4
Unfulfilled Expectations: Student Debt, Recent College and High School Graduates
Three studies conducted in 2011 and 2012 explore the experiences of high school and college graduates from the classes of 2006 – 2011. The purpose of the studies was to understand how recent graduates were faring in the workforce, specifically looking at those individuals who graduated before and during the difficult labor market caused by the Great Recession.
Chapter 5
The Misery of Long-Term Unemployment: The Great Recession and Slow Recovery
A groundbreaking longitudinal panel study of American workers who suffered unemployment and long-term unemployment (workers looking for work for at least six months) during and after the Great Recession, Heldrich Center researchers conducted four surveys asking workers about their unemployment and reemployment experiences from 2008 to 2011. This series went on to win the American Association for Public Opinion Research’s 2013 Policy Impact Award.
Chapter 6
The Great Recession and Slow Recovery
Nationally representative studies of American adults were conducted during and after the Great Recession, studying the differences and similarities in the views of those who were employed and those who were out of work. The studies also investigated how workers viewed the causes of unemployment, and how they assessed the near- and long-term future of the labor market. These studies showed the slow recovery that the economy, labor market, and American families endured.
Chapter 7
The COVID-19 Recession, Economic Recovery, and Inflation
Several nationally representative studies of American adults were conducted during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 U.S. presidential election, including two surveys conducted before the election and after President Joe Biden was declared the winner.
Chapter 8
Older Workers, Job Loss, and Retirement
Work Trends has surveyed workers about retirement, including the experiences of workers who have retired but remain in the workforce, opinions about being older workers, and perceptions about retirement pensions and plans.
Chapter 9
A Workplace Divided
In 2002 and 2023, the Heldrich Center published two groundbreaking reports about discrimination in the American workplace. The surveys examined how workers perceive and experience discrimination, as well as what they expect the government and employers to do about discrimination in the workplace. The 2002 study was one of the first of its kind. The 2023 study was a multi-phase survey project sponsored by WorkRise at the Urban Institute.
Chapter 10
Additional Studies and Reports
For over two decades, Work Trends has explored a variety of important topics about work and workers in the United States. These studies examine workers’ awareness of employee benefit programs, employers’ views on workplace accessibility, and opinions about supporting working families and work-based wellness programs.