U.S. worker job engagement hits lowest level since 2011, new Gallup poll finds

The current U.S. job market has been described as a "low-hire, low-fire" environment — relatively stable, even as unemployment edges up and wage growth stagnates . But there is another kind of low being expressed by workers — their level of engagement. Gallup's quarterly polling of the workforce on engagement — which tracks workers’ focus, motivation and enthusiasm for their jobs — fell to its lowest level since 2011 in the third quarter of 2026. The decline was concentrated in remote and hybrid employees across the U.S., according to Gallup, particularly "those in organizations that have adopted artificial intelligence." The quarterly data does need to be put into the longer-term context for a poll that Gallup has conducted since 2000.