38% See Better Job In Their Future

A plurality of American workers is still confident their next job will be better than their current one, but most aren’t searching for other work.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 38% of Employed Adults say their next job will be better than their current one.   Just 17% say their next job will not be better than their current one, while 21% say they plan on retiring.  Another 24% are not sure.  (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

The latest findings show little change from the previous survey in early July. In surveys since April 2009, the number of workers expecting their next job to be better ranged from 27% to 40%.

Twenty-four percent (24%) say they are searching for a new job  outside their current company, down four points from July. This finding has stayed in a 21% to 30% range since 2009.  Seventy-one percent (71%) of employed adults are not looking for a job outside of their current company, a finding that has remained consistent since April 2009.   

That may help explain why a plurality (43%) of American workers say the best opportunity for career advancement is by staying with their current company.  Thirty percent (30%) feel going to work for someone else is a better move for their career, while 27% are undecided.  These findings have shown little change in the past couple years. 

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The survey of 582 Employed Adults was conducted on September 5-6, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.