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Global Trade Policy Changes Leave U.S. Frontline Workers Nervous, Angry, and Stressed Out

via Business Wire

Key Points

  • Largest survey to date of 5,000+ U.S. frontline employees measuring worker sentiment on global trade policy finds many are nervous, stressed, and angry about potential effects on their jobs
  • More than seven in 10 frontline workers have changed work and home behaviors because of tariff uncertainty, and three in four say reforms hurt Main Street employees more than Wall Street employees
  • Gen Z frontline workers are overwhelmingly more concerned than their Baby Boomer colleagues

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.

Tariffs Leave Frontline Workers Unnerved about Potential Impact on their 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 Behaviors 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 behavior 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 Overwhelmingly More Concerned

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).

Supporting Resources

About UKG

At UKG, our purpose is people. We are on a mission to inspire every organization to become a great place to work through HCM technology built for all. More than 80,000 organizations across all sizes, industries, and geographies trust UKG HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions to drive great workplace experiences and make better, more confident people and business decisions. With the world’s largest collection of people data, work data, and culture data combined with rich experience using artificial intelligence in the service of people, we connect culture insights with business outcomes to show what’s possible when organizations invest in their people. To learn more, visit ukg.com.

Survey Methodology: For the purposes of this survey, frontline employees are defined as workers who directly engage with customers, products, or services. For some industries, customers may be patients, patrons, students, citizens, guests, etc. Typically, a frontline employee is someone “who must be present in a specific place or at a specific time to perform their job.” Research findings are based on a survey conducted by Workplace Intelligence on behalf of UKG, fielded between April 21-24, 2025, of 5,073 frontline workers.

Copyright 2025 UKG Inc. All rights reserved. For a full list of UKG trademarks, please visit ukg.com/trademarks. All other trademarks, if any, are property of their respective owners. All specifications are subject to change.

UKG found that 52% of frontline workers believe they are at risk of being laid off and 74% feel tariffs will impact their future earnings, while 68% expect an impact to their current earnings.

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