Job satisfaction among dallas employees climbed into new territory in September. Seventy-five percent of workers reported they were happy in their jobs, according to the newest Rasmussen survey. (The pollster does the study for the Hudson staffing company.) Even better news is that the number of workers worried about losing their jobs plummeted a “dramatic” eight points to 13 percent. Workers’ expectations of layoffs fell three points to 10 percent, “the lowest percentage of Dallas workers ever to report this,” Rasmussen said.
In contrast, employees nationwide were not so sanguine, with job satisfaction falling in cities like New York (down from 69 percent in August to 67 percent), Chicago (down from 72 percent to 69 percent), and Tampa (down from 79 percent to 74 percent). Nationally, the Hudson Employment Index fell 2.4 points to 100.5, while Dallas bucked the trend, climbing to 112.5. The number of workers nationwide expecting their employers to add staff fell two points from August to 29 percent, the least optimistic workers have been about their employers’ expansion plans since September 2005. Once again, Dallas fared significantly better at 38 percent.
Is the local economy booming? The people doing the work seem to think so. You don’t fear losing your job when you see your company expanding. The area unemployment rate seems to back up what employees feel. In September it dipped to 4.7 percent, the lowest since the high-tech bust of 2001.
I’m no economist, but to me this data sends strong positive signals about the strength of the Dallas recovery. With our population growing at an estimated 410 people a day, the local economy has to be on a big upward swing to absorb newcomers, attain these kind of employee ratings, and lower the unemployment rate.
But there’s a cloud on the horizon, and it could rain on the parade. Only 36 percent of Dallas employees rated their finances favorably—the smallest percentage in our area’s history. This has to be caused by either the fear that wages aren’t keeping up with the standard of living or by consumer debt. Oddly, consumer debt has fallen nationally for the first time in years. Even though there are no specific numbers for Dallas, it looks like we’re once again bucking the trend. Dallas families seem to be taking on far more debt than they can handle. In the third quarter, Dallas ranked fifth in foreclosures among the top 100 markets. According to Steve Brown at the Dallas Morning News, foreclosure postings were up 50 percent for the Dallas-Fort Worth area in November alone.
Conservative politicians once said that the federal government ought to operate like a family on a budget. With the Republican Congress having racked up $1.5 trillion in debt since 2000 and upped discretionary spending by 72 percent, it looks like families have taken the cue in reverse. After all, if the national leadership cuts revenue, increases spending, and relies on debt as the magic remedy, why shouldn’t they?
Financial profligacy didn’t work for the Republicans, and there’s no way it will work for Dallas families, either. A booming economy will cure a lot of ills, but it won’t erase a mountain of debt.
I know what we’re going to do about it here. We’re going to start counseling employees on how to reduce debt now, while the good times they are a-rollin’. Then we might—just might—have a chance of keeping those job satisfaction percentages high when the inevitable turn of the cycle comes.
