Layoffs more familiar than ever A record number of U.S. survey respondents indicated they know someone who has lost a job in the past six months, a Gallup poll indicated Monday. PRINCETON, N.J., April 23 (UPI) -- A record number of U.S. survey respondents indicated they know someone who has lost a job in the past six months, a Gallup poll indicated Monday. Sixty-eight percent of respondents to a nationwide poll indicated they knew someone made jobless in the past half a year, Gallup said. On only three other occasions -- in 1994, 2003 and 2004 -- have more than 60 percent of respondents indicated they knew someone recently laid off, Gallup said. The firm had put that interview question aside since 2004 and concedes there may have been a point between then and now where the percentage topped 68 percent. Despite responses to that question, there has been little change in the number of working adults reporting they believed they would be laid off within the next 12 months and the number of respondents indicating it was a bad time to look for a quality job has shrunk recently. In the most recent survey, 77 percent indicated it is a bad time to find a quality job while 21 percent indicated it is a good time to look for a quality job. In November, 90 percent indicated they felt negative about the prospects of finding a good job, which tied a record as the most negative response to that question, Gallup said. Gallup said the recent survey was conducted April 9-12 and involved 1,016 adults. The margin of error on results is essentially 4 percentage points.