Dive Brief:
- Workers expect the economic environment to become more challenging in 2026, and 73% cited increased salary as their important priorities for the coming year, according to Monster’s 2026 WorkWatch Report.
- While 58% of workers said their salaries aren’t keeping up with inflation, 57% said they don’t expect to look for a new job in 2026, and 40% expect the job market to get worse. In a separate survey published in October, Monster found that nearly half of workers are “job hugging,” which is staying in a job longer than usual for security.
- Despite their desire to stay put, 52% of workers said they expect nationwide layoffs to increase, and 40% expect the adoption of artificial intelligence to result in moderate job reductions in their industry by the end of the year.
Dive Insight:
On top of heightened financial insecurity and concerns about job stability, many workers said they’re just more exhausted this year than they were last year. In 2025, 31% said they experienced more burnout year over year, with another 35% saying their burnout levels were the same. In addition, 40% of workers said they were concerned about burnout or mental health, making it the second biggest cause of apprehension after salary fears.
The workforce “has largely accepted uncertainty as a constant,” per the report, and workers in search of stability are taking on side hustles or upskilling to maintain their current situations and plan for the future. Gig work has become a permanent supplement to the primary income of 20% of workers, while 32% said they had a side hustle in addition to their main job. Monster also found that 16% of workers had taken on second jobs to make ends meet.
Meanwhile, companies are tightening their back-to-office restrictions, with 50% of workers saying their employer requires them to be in the office five days per week. Fifty-one percent of workers say the office is where they’re most productive, although 31% of workers said they wouldn’t apply for a job that required daily office attendance.
DEI policies also factored into the decision-making of some job applicants, with 37% indicating they would avoid employers who didn’t have strong DEI policies.
The adoption of artificial intelligence has also impacted worker sentiment. About half of workers (49%) said they were concerned that AI would replace their role or disrupt their industry.
