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I grabbed a few of the charts from this recent Gallup ECI report not so much to do a political viewpoint. Just watching the massive layoffs at the US Government which will certainly impact the nation’s Unemployment numbers. That layoff was bad enough when measured against the respect for people. It will have an economic impact. There will be repercussions to be seen at the service performance level which will decrease for most citizens with the exception of those in the upper 5% of the economy.

But then, those commandeering the changes do not care.

Perhaps some of the functions can be computerized? Typically, this comes after the process is examined for labor input. What can be handled by a computer and what can not. You do not risk damage by doing kneejerk reactions.

My second thought? Now add to the Government layoff what companies are doing in reassessing their employees for present and future needs. The input of Labor is small in comparison to the total cost. Also, people were hired for a reason. I doubt the reasoning has disappeared which means the functions will either be picked up by others or just left till they create an issue.

Knee jerk reactions to Labor is in error when one does not look at the entire throughput and process. I doubt the functions have disappeared. Furthermore, there will be political repercussions. Which brings up another point, where are our “elected” politicians who are supposed to be looking out for us?

“U.S. Economic Confidence Ticks Down as Partisans’ Views Shift,” Gallup

Gallup’s January 2025 Economic Confidence Index (ECI) stands at -19, down slightly from December’s -14 reading but improved from the -26 registered just before the election. Keep in mind the pandemic impact to the economy.

The latest results are from a Jan. 2-15, 2025, Gallup poll, conducted during the presidential transition from Joe Biden to Donald Trump. During this time, Trump was promising economic change — from addressing inflation to enacting tariffs and cutting taxes.

Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index summarizes Americans’ evaluations of current economic conditions (as excellent, good, only fair or poor) and their outlook for the economy (whether they believe it is getting better or getting worse).

The index has a theoretical range of +100 (if all Americans rate current conditions as excellent or good and say the economy is getting better) to -100 (if all Americans rate the economy as poor and say it is getting worse). In Gallup’s trend of these measures since 1992, the highest ECI score is +56, in January 2000, and the lowest is -72, in October 2008.

Republicans and Democrats Swap Confidence Amid Transition

As is typically the case, political party groups differ greatly in their evaluations of the economy, with supporters of the president’s party evaluating it much more positively than those in the opposing party. Those changes were already underway during the presidential transition period.

Since the election, Democrats’ score on the index has dropped by 30 points, while Republicans’ score has improved by the same amount and independents’ by about half as much, 16 points. Currently, Democrats’ index score is +7, while Republicans’ is -42 and independents’ is -18.

The recent changes are similar to what happened during the Trump-Biden transition. After Biden took office in 2021, Democrats became more confident than Republicans in the economy.

Evaluations of Current Economic Conditions Steady

This month, 26% of U.S. adults say economic conditions are “excellent” or “good,” while 33% call them “only fair” and 40% “poor.” This results in a -14 score on the current conditions component of the index for the third month in a row, which is slightly higher than the 2024 average of -19. The last time the current conditions score was better than now was in March 2024 (-9).

This measure has seen more modest partisan shifts since the election. Currently, 45% of Democrats rate the economy as “excellent” or “good,” while 26% of independents and 9% of Republicans say the same. In October, those figures were 51% for Democrats, 22% for independents and 5% for Republicans.

Mentions of Economy, Inflation as “Most Important Problem” Below Government

Economic concerns, including the economy in general terms (14%) and inflation (12%), rank high when Americans name the most important problem facing the country, but both trail the government (23%) by a significant margin.

“The government” has risen as the most important problem since the preelection poll in October, when 17% of U.S. adults mentioned it. In contrast, fewer Americans now name the economy in general (down from 21% in October) and immigration (13%, down from 21%) as the leading problem. Mentions of inflation are little changed from 14% in October.

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