Employee confidence dropped yet again in May, reaching another record low, according to a June 10 report based on Glassdoor’s Employee Confidence Index.
The percentage of employees who reported a positive six-month business outlook for their employers fell to 44.1% in May, dropping from 45.8% in April and breaking the previous record low of 44.4% in February.
“Economic uncertainty and economic anxiety are compounding to create an uneasy morass for employees, driving employee confidence lower and lower,” Daniel Zhao, a lead economist and senior manager on Glassdoor’s economic research team, wrote in the report.
In May, Glassdoor reviews with mentions of layoffs increased 9% and were 18% higher than a year ago. Layoff fears continue to rise after leveling off last year, according to the report. Although mentions of uncertainty fell by 2% in May, they remained 63% higher year over year.
In addition, discussions about the economy grew 17% in May and are up 18% year over year. This may indicate “broad anxiety that overrides employees’ feelings about their employer specifically,” Zhao wrote.
By industry, employee confidence in the government and public administration sectors continues to drop; only 34.5% of employees reported a positive outlook in May. Since the presidential election, employee confidence in these sectors has dropped from 49%.
Industries with potential tariff effects had varying patterns. Manufacturing increased slightly by 0.2 percentage points but remains 2.8 points below 2024. Construction, repair and maintenance services improved 1.1 percentage points, while transportation and logistics dropped 2.6 points.
By seniority, employee confidence for entry-level workers dropped from 44.1% in April to 43.4% in May, hitting a record low after a previous low in March. Confidence for mid-level and senior workers marked slight improvement in May but remained 4.5 and 3 percentage points, respectively, lower than in 2024.
More than half of U.S. workers say job insecurity has increased their work stress, according to a report from the American Psychological Association. In addition, 65% said their company has been affected by recent government policy changes, and 39% said they’re concerned about losing their job in the next 12 months due to those changes.
Front-line workers, in particular, say they’re stressed about U.S. trade policy changes, according to a report by UKG. More than half of workers said they’ve already experienced noticeable changes at work due to tariffs, and the changes have begun to affect them at work and at home.
Overall, 1 in 3 U.S. workers say they’re experiencing layoff anxiety for 2025, according to a survey by Clarify Capital. Layoff anxiety is higher among Generation Z workers and more than double among remote workers than in-office employees, the survey found.
