Most Americans Believe Trump Will Be Good for Jobs: Here’s What a Career Expert Predicts
Written by
Gabrielle Olya
Edited by
Molly Sullivan
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Many Americans are feeling positive about the future of the job market under a Donald Trump presidency. A recent Resume Genius survey of 1,000 working-age Americans found that about 2 in 3 Americans (65%) are optimistic about how the Trump administration will influence their career and job prospects.
Younger Americans, in particular, believe Trump will be good for jobs — 69% of Gen Z and 67% of millennials feel positive about the current political climate’s effect on their careers. In addition, men (67%) are more confident than women (61%) that Trump’s presidency will positively influence their professional futures.
But is this optimism warranted? Here’s what one career expert predicts.
Working Americans Can Be ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About the Upcoming Trump Term
Nathan Soto, career expert at Resume Genius, believes that most working-age Americans are optimistic because of the change in presidency rather than because of Trump himself.
“During this period of change, Americans’ optimism about their career outlook comes from their dissatisfaction with the status quo,” he said. “I believe the overwhelming optimism we’re seeing in our survey results would be misattributed if we say it’s about the Trump administration itself.
“One of the most pertinent criticisms of the Democratic party’s campaign was that their messaging on the economy — that it’s actually doing very well — was insensitive to working-class people whose wages have stagnated and for whom inflation has been devastating,” he continued. “Americans obviously want something different.”
Soto said that in reality, Trump’s proposed policies will have mixed effects on American workers.
“Trump didn’t commit to raising the minimum wage during his campaign, but he promised an end to taxing tips and overtime pay,” he said. “His focus on mass deportations and tariffs largely side-steps employment concerns for most Americans, but still, Americans are eager to return to a pre-pandemic economy and it seems that most are optimistic Trump can deliver it.”
While Soto said it’s OK to be optimistic about the job market over the next four years, it’s also important to be realistic.
“A bit of cautious optimism is healthy, but one president cannot improve the career outlook of the entire country — or even 65% of it,” he said. “It’s likely that only some will benefit directly from Trump’s policies, while many will have to make their own success.”
What Trump’s Presidency Could Mean for Younger Workers
Soto does not believe that Trump’s presidency will have as profound an effect on younger workers as they may be hoping for.
“For younger workers, the next four years will be affected more by the ongoing rise of AI and the normalization of the gig/content economy than by the Trump administration,” he said. “Young people, especially Gen Z workers, are well-positioned to navigate this new reality because they are the most comfortable in digital content creation spaces.”
He does note that how the Trump administration handles the impending TikTok ban will affect mostly younger workers.
“Given how many people make money on online content platforms, the Trump administration would do well to reconsider any actions that would suddenly eliminate the income stream of millions of younger workers,” he said. “The looming TikTok ban, while one could argue that it’s justified from a national security standpoint, will clearly have a negative impact that disproportionately affects Gen Z.”
What Trump’s Presidency Could Mean for Men vs. Women in the Workforce
While both men and women are optimistic about how a Trump presidency could impact their careers, men are more optimistic overall.
“Women might be less confident about their career prospects because of the erosion of women’s health protections, which is expected to accelerate under a second Trump presidency,” Soto said. “Fewer choices for family planning and birth control in particular are leaving women less optimistic than men about their career futures.”
Soto believes that Trump’s messaging has appealed specifically to working-age men.
“Men might be more optimistic than women because of the Trump campaign’s criticism of DEI initiatives, and a general feeling that this benefits men — especially white males,” he said. “Further, men might be energized by the fact that Trump has more personal experience running companies than the current president, and has amplified a masculine-centered message that resonated with male voters.”
Editor’s note on political coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on GOBankingRates.com.
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