The American Public and the Next Social Contract: Public Opinion and Political Culture in 2007

This paper, by Heldrich Center Senior Research Fellow and Bloustein School Professor Cliff Zukin, explores the state of public opinion in the United States and examines enduring American values and current attitudes toward pressing policy challenges

Talent Report: What Workers Want in 2012

This report set out to investigate how people view 'impact jobs,' or jobs that provide the opportunity to make social or environmental impact. This survey looked at a statistically-significant national sample of 1,726 individuals: currently-enrolled university students about to enter the workforce, and currently-employed college graduates spanning three generations (Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers). The report examines each group's life goals, job satisfaction, and prioritization for making an impact at work against other key job criteria

The American Public and the Next Social Contract: Appendix 2

Statistical appendix for "The American Public and the Next Social Contract.

The American Public and the Next Social Contract: Appendix 1

Sources and data collection appendix for "The American Public and the Next Social Contract.

The Anguish of Unemployment

A comprehensive national survey conducted among 1,200 Americans nationwide (August 2009) who have been unemployed and looking for a job in the past 12 months, including 894 who are still jobless. It portrays a shaken, traumatized people coping with serious financial and psychological effects from an economic downturn of epic proportion. The survey, conducted and released by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, a research and policy center at Rutgers University, is one of the first and most comprehensive national scientific samples of unemployed Americans during the present recession. It provides an in-depth portrait of the social and economic experiences of unemployed Americans, drawing on data and direct quotes from respondents. The study was fielded by Knowledge Networks, which contacted a nationally representative sample of the recently unemployed between August 6 and 12, 2009. The survey shows that the great recession of 2007-2009 may have long-lasting financial and psychological effects on millions of people, and therefore on the nation's social fabric. The Anguish of Unemployment is the 21st Work Trends survey, a series launched in 1998 to better understand the public's attitudes about work, employers, and the government

No End in Sight: The Agony of Prolonged Unemployment

Despite positive signs of economic growth and a rising stock market, millions of unemployed Americans see no end to the Great Recession that devastated their finances and threw their lives into turmoil. No End in Sight: The Agony of Prolonged Unemployment, a nationwide Work Trends survey of more than 900 workers who have been jobless since August 2009, documents their continuing struggle to find jobs and the sacrifices they have endured in a punishing economy. The report is based on a six-month follow-up survey with the national scientific sample of unemployed Americans reported in the Heldrich Centeras Anguish of Unemployment report released in September 2009. Seventy-six percent of those interviewed in August 2009 were re-interviewed by Knowledge Networks of Menlo Park, California between March 10-23, 2010

The Shattered American Dream

This survey of unemployed American workers documents dramatic erosion in the quality of life for millions of Americans. Their financial reserves are exhausted, their job prospects nil, their family relations stressed, and their belief in government's ability to help them is negligible. They feel hopeless and powerless, unable to see their way out of the Great Recession that has claimed 8.5 million jobs.The survey shows that only one-quarter of those first interviewed in August 2009 have found full-time jobs some 15 months later. And most of those who have become reemployed have taken jobs they did not really want for less pay. Moreover, the recession has wreaked havoc on the retirement plans of older workers.The Heldrich Center first interviewed a national sample of 1,202 unemployed workers in August 2009, using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel(R) conducted by Knowledge Networks of Menlo Park, CA. Just over 900 were re-interviewed in March 2010, and 764 were re-interviewed between November 5 and 28, 2010 for this report

Healthy at Work? Unequal Access to Employer Wellness Programs

Reports findings from a March 2009 survey of American workers' views and opinions on employer-provided wellness programs

American Workers Assess an Economic Disaster

Nearly three years into a devastating economic recession, American workers are deeply pessimistic about prospects for economic recovery. The majority believe that the nationas economy has undergone a fundamental and lasting change, according to American Workers Assess an Economic Disaster, a new nationwide Work Trends survey from the Heldrich Center.Some of the key findings of the national survey are:Nearly three in four (73%) Americans have been directly affected by a recession that is unprecedented in its length and severity. Nearly two in three of those surveyed expect the United States to still be in a recession next year; another 18% fear a depression is coming. More than half (56%) think the U.S. economy has undergone a fundamental and lasting change as opposed to a temporary downturn (43%). Fully 41% anticipate that the United States will be experiencing similar economic conditions a year from now while another quarter (27%) actually believes the economy will get worse before it gets better. Nearly 9 in 10 Americans (86%) who are still working express at least some concern about their job security; half of them report being very concerned

Philadelphia Research Initiative Public Opinion Poll 2009

Presents survey results on Philadelphians' views on the mayor's performance, the city's fiscal situation, the mayor's budget cut proposals, and the balance between services and taxes. Analyzes results by demographics and in comparison with past surveys