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BUSINESS

Fewer Americans Know Someone Out of Work

While most Americans still say they know someone out of a job, that number has fallen to its lowest level yet, as has the number who know someone who has given up on the job market. But even though the national unemployment rate has fallen to a 10-year low, adults aren’t totally convinced the job market is better than it was a year ago.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 54% of American Adults know someone who is out of work and looking for a job. That’s down from 63% in February 2016 and is the lowest level measured in surveys since March 2010. This finding reached a high of 82% in December 2011. Forty percent (40%) now say they don’t know someone in this situation, a finding that ran in the teens to mid-20s for years. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

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The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on May 9-10, 2017 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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