After a brief burst of optimism in the spring, job confidence has fallen back to first-of-the-year levels.

A new Rasmussen reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of working Americans now say it will be their choice when they leave their current job, but that’s down nine points from April. In late January, 61% felt that way.

But perhaps more ominous is the new finding that 23% say it will be their employer’s choice when they leave their current job. That’s up 10 points from April and compares to 21% in January. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure whose choice it will be if they leave their existing job.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of those working in the private sector say the decision to change jobs will be their own, compared to 72% of government employees.

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The government recently announced that the national unemployment rate is 9.5%, the highest level since August 1983, and most officials are indicating that it will go even higher.

Forty-five percent (45%) of working Americans say they have a better opportunity for career advancement by staying with their current company, down five points from April. Thirty-three percent (33%) think they have a better chance to move ahead by going to work for someone else, while 22% are not sure which course is better.

Men have more confidence than women that their current employer offers them a better chance for advancement. Working women are almost evenly divided over the question.

But only 21% of all Americans who are currently employed say they are looking for another job outside of their current company. Seventy-two percent (72%) say they are not looking for another job. These numbers are basically unchanged from April.

Americans ages 30 to 49 are more likely to be looking than workers in other age groups.

Thirty-four percent (34%) say their next job will be better than they one they currently have, a drop of seven points from April. Sixteen percent (16%) disagree and say their next job will not be better, while 22% plan to retire. These numbers are little changed from the previous survey. But 29% are now not sure if their next job will be better or worse, up nine points from April.

Perhaps not surprisingly, younger workers are much more likely than their elders to say that their next job will be better.

Still, the Rasmussen Employment Index, a monthly measure of worker confidence in the employment market, rose in June to its highest level since last October.

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