Stressing over job security

Higher earners worry more about keeping their source of income, according to a survey.

Families earning $75,000 or more per year feel less secure in their jobs than the overall population, according to data from Bankrate.com. In fact, just 21% of these high-income workers feel that their jobs are safer today than a year ago, compared with 26% who feel the same way they did last year.

Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, attributed this to the fact that businesses are cutting costs as they struggle to create revenue in this slow-growth economy.

“People with bigger paychecks may feel they’re a little more expendable the next time there is a round of cost cutting at work,” he said.

Only a better economic environment will ease fears about job security, particularly for higher earners, Mr. McBride said.

“Should the economy kick into higher gear, [it] will lead to increased feelings of job security,” he said.

Overall financial security has improved in the past year for higher earners, while remaining nearly stagnant for respondents in total. The better off say they can make more headway in savings and in paying off debt than people who make less.

Bankrate.com’s Financial Security Index showed that overall financial security improved just slightly — a reading of 99.0, up from 97.9 — over the past 12 months. The index, based on a telephone survey of 1,005 adults, measures how secure Americans felt about their personal finances over the past year. 

“I expect we’re going to continue to have a lot of ups and downs,” Mr. McBride said. “There is a lot of uncertainty in regards to the fiscal cliff, the European debt crisis [and] slower growth with other parts of the globe.”