Changes in U.S. trade policy have contributed to a growing sentiment of unease and insecurity among frontline workers — those engaged in shift work or non-salaried employees, who typically have to be present in a specific place at an assigned time to do their job — roles which are often sensitive to market fluctuations and price increases.
More than half of workers (52%) believe they are at risk of being laid off and nearly three-quarters (74%) feel tariffs will impact their future earnings, while almost 7 in 10 expect an impact to their current earnings (68%). What’s more, 77% of frontline workers agree that tariffs hurt ‘Main Street’ more than their Wall Street counterparts.
These findings come from a new survey from UKG, a leading provider of HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions, which asked more than 5,000 frontline workers in what is believed to be the largest survey to date about sentiment around tariffs.
Impact on jobs
Frontline workers said that the 90-day pause has created more uncertainty because they don’t know what the future will bring (75%). Many wish they could revert to the old tariff structure (73%), as U.S. frontline workers admit to feeling nervous (65%), stressed (56%), and angry (56%) about the potential impact tariffs will have on their jobs. On top of job security and earning power fears, two-thirds of frontline employees believe pending tariffs will create unpredictability in scheduling and overtime (64%) and limit their future job prospects (66%).
Changing behaviours at work and at home
More than half of frontline workers (51%) have already experienced noticeable changes at their jobs because of tariffs, and these changes are having a trickledown effect on their behaviors at work and home. General uncertainty has caused 72% of frontline workers to change workplace behaviour in some way, including working harder to prove their value (37%), voluntarily taking on more hours in case future hours are reduced (25%), and adding a new skill or certification for job security (23%).
At home, 83% of workers are changing personal habits in some way, including saving more money (48%), paying more attention to news and economic forecasts (31%), and putting off large purchases (26%). One in 10 frontline employees (13%) have even admitted to delaying their retirement plans, and 1 in 4 are actively looking for additional income streams (24%).
Generational gap
Gen Z workers are much more worried about the impact of tariffs on their futures than Baby Boomers and are changing behaviors at more than two times the rate. Two-thirds (63%) of Gen Z workers fear that tariffs will cost them their jobs and that they will be laid off. Only one in four (28%) Baby Boomers share this same fear. Gen Z workers say they’ve experienced more noticeable changes at their jobs than Baby Boomers (63% vs. 28%) and nearly half (47%) say they are working harder to prove their worth compared with only 15% of Baby Boomers. Tariff uncertainty and the potential job impacts also are changing Gen Z spending habits. Gen Zers (58%) said they’ve had to save more money by spending less or switching to lower-cost products (vs. 37% of boomers).
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