The typical U.S. employee has undergone a significant change in attitude about their job in the last 15 years. Where once, not even two decades ago, people either felt they had a "quality job" or thought they could find one, today, that is no longer the case for most American workers.

That's the conclusion drawn by Gallup, which just completed its latest survey in which it asked more than 1,000 Americans if they thought the present was a good time to look for a quality job. And while the percentage who said "yes" – 27 percent — is up from some alarming trough years, it is still, Gallup opines, discouragingly low.

"The fact that 70 percent of Americans continue to say it is not a good time to find a quality job is an important indicator of the still-shaky nature of the U.S. economy," Gallup said in a news release. "The current perception that it's not a good time to be looking for a job can translate into restraints on consumer spending, major economic commitments, moving, and other actions that could stimulate the economy."