According to career website LiveCareer, many job seekers are optimistic about their job searches; however, they remain critical of the government's job creation efforts and are doubtful that the presidential election will dramatically impact their employment prospects.
"We frequently survey our users to understand their attitudes toward their job search," says Jamie Freundlich, Co-CEO of LiveCareer North America. "With this being an election year, we wanted to get a sense of how politics might be affecting our U.S. job seekers' attitudes and optimism."
Although 64 percent of respondents agree that job creation is the most important issue in the presidential election, only 41 percent of respondents say finding a job in 2013 will be dramatically impacted by the next president.
Fewer than 27 percent of respondents say they are satisfied with job creation efforts by the government, and another 42 percent say they are dissatisfied. Fifty-four percent of respondents say a company should receive a tax break for hiring unemployed job seekers while 65 percent say the government should provide free job and skills training to the unemployed.
Even the more experienced respondents are more critical and likely to express dissatisfaction with the government's current efforts. Of those reporting dissatisfaction are entry-level respondents at 32 percent, professional-level respondents at 46 percent, management-level respondents at 49 percent and executive-level respondents at 57 percent.
"Some data in the survey suggests that our users don't see a strong cause-and-effect connection between politics and the economy," Freundlich says.
In fact, 51 percent of respondents say the economy as a whole is most at fault for the recession, and only 31 percent say one of the major political parties is to blame. Another 13 percent of respondents fault Wall Street for the recession. Twenty-four percent of respondents say their current employment situations will be a major factor in if and how they vote this year.
Regardless of the recession and high unemployment rate, respondents remain positive about future job prospects. Thirty-three percent of respondents say they hold an optimistic outlook toward their job searches, and another 35 percent say they are very optimistic.
"When you consider that more than half the respondents are currently unemployed, that's an encouraging note," Freundlich says.
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