A third of Americans worried about jobs: survey

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSN0851057820081208

By Brad Dorfman

CHICAGO, Dec 8 (Reuters Life!) - One-third of U.S. consumers are worried about their jobs, a growing number that should be the latest sign of concern for retailers during the key holiday shopping season, a consumer research firm said.

"Job security (concern) is the only thing that will shut a customer down from shopping," Britt Beemer, founder and chief executive of America's Research Group, said.

In questions asked for Reuters as part of a larger survey, 33.6 percent of respondents said they were concerned about job security. That number is up from about 24 percent a month ago when a similar question was asked, and up from about 3 percent last year, Beemer said.

The survey was conducted just after the Labor Department announced that U.S. employers cut 533,000 jobs in November, the most since 1974.

Retailers are in the midst of what some experts see as the worst holiday season in nearly two decades, as job losses, the credit crunch and falling home prices all push consumers to keep their wallets shut.

In the America's Research survey, 25.4 percent said they had already completed their holiday shopping, compared with only about 18 percent to 19 percent who were finished at this point last year, Beemer said.

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That one third admitted to being worried. People don't always tell pollsters what they really feel, and others have a "positive attitude" mentality. They believe that if they don't have negative thoughts, good things will happen.