New Employment Law Alliance Poll: Americans Want Next President to Focus on Saving U.S. Jobs and Health Care

American employees want their next President to focus on improving their standard of living, providing universal health care and stemming the outsourcing of jobs, according to the latest “America At Work” national opinion survey by the non-partisan Employment Law Alliance (ELA). The national workplace-issues poll, based on a sampling of 1,125 working Americans between April 4 and 9, 2008, focuses on a range of workplace-related issues that will likely confront the next President.

A summary of the results, posted at www.employmentlawalliance.com, reveals:

87% of Americans want their next President to focus on increasing the proportion of the workforce earning at least a living wage; 86% want their President to make it tougher for companies to outsource U.S. jobs to foreign countries; and 83% want presidential attention to health care coverage for all U.S. citizens.
76% of Americans are concerned with having the next President work toward increasing workplace safety regulation; 70% support focusing on expanding family leave rules; and 69% think beefing up enforcement of workplace discrimination laws should be a priority.
In sharp contrast, only 40% said want their next President to focus on immigration issues, ranging from making it easier for professionals to work in the U.S. to granting amnesty for illegal aliens.
Workers were significantly split along racial lines regarding both views on workplace issues and immigration reform with, for example, 55% of non-whites supporting relaxing immigration laws for professionals versus 36% among whites.
Geographically, 46% of workers in Western states thought the President should make increasing legal immigration a priority compared to a low of 25% among Midwestern workers.
45% of Americans want to make it easier for unions to organize workers.

“A big lesson for employers from this poll is that workers are genuinely concerned about health care costs, despite employers’ best efforts to provide reasonably priced health benefits,” says Tamara Hjelle Olsen, Gray Plant Mooty’s Managing Officer and a principal in the firm’s Employment Law practice group. “Employers can’t respond to this concern alone, though. We have top quality health care in Minnesota, but its cost to providers, employers and employees is staggering. Minnesota needs some kind of broad-based solution that works for employers, providers and workers.”

Steve Hirschfeld, CEO of the ELA, said the survey was conducted prior to the Pennsylvania primary on April 22 to help provide context for a broad range of workplace issues. “The President is the Chief Executive Officer of the country and here we have Americans telling their next CEO what they think should be on his or her agenda when it comes to working men and women,” he explained. “The fact that they want more attention placed on raising their standard of living and creating universal health care coverage, and are less concerned with making it easier for unions to organize workers, says something about the state of the country and the state of the economy.”