As overall economy woes continue, there has been a strong focus during this recovery on the issue of jobs. Not only is there general dissatisfaction with the current job market, it is at the lowest it's been since over a year ago. This month, just 9% of Americans would rate the job market of their region of the nation as good while 67% would rate it as bad and one-quarter (24%) say it is neither good nor bad. This is not that different from September when 11% of U.S. adults said the job market in their region was good and 67% said it was bad.

In looking at how people in specific regions of the country think about the job market, Southerners seem to be more optimistic while things seem to be the worst in the West. In the South, while only one in ten (11%) say the job market in their region is good, just three in five (62%) say it is bad while over one-quarter (27%) say it is neither good nor bad. Among Westerners, 8% say the job market in their region is good while three-quarters (74%) say it is bad.

Increasing jobs in the U.S.

When asked, among six suggestions, what would significantly increase jobs inthe United States, more than two in five Americans (44%) say cutting government spending and two in five (40%) say cutting taxes for Americans. Over one-third of U.S. adults (36%) believe reducing business regulations would significantly increase jobs while 34% say cutting taxes on businesses and corporations, 29% say lowering interest rates, and 12% say more government spending. Almost one-quarter (22%) say none of these six actions would significantly increase jobs in the U.S.

There are definitely partisan differences on what would increase jobs in the U.S. Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to say cutting government spending will create jobs (63% versus 27%), reducing business regulation (55% versus 19%), cutting taxes on businesses and corporations (50% versus 22%), and cutting taxes (50% versus 33%). Democrats, however, are only more likely than Republicans to say more government spending will increase jobs (21% versus 1%).

So What?

Americans are clearly not sure where the jobs will come from, but one thing is clear – they are definitely not happy with the current state of the job market. They are looking to someone for answers and, at the moment, they are looking towards the President. If he can give them hope, they will probably think better of him. But, they aren't seeing that and after three years in office, this may be one of the things that cause them to look elsewhere next November.