Employed Americans are slightly more confident than they were this summer that leaving their current jobs will be their own decision rather than their employer’s.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 65% believe leaving their job will be their choice. That’s up five points from July but is still down slightly from 69% in April, the high point of the year to date.

In January, 61% of American workers said changing jobs would be their decision.

Eighty percent (80%) of women say leaving their existing job will be their choice, compared to 53% of men.

Fifteen percent (15%) of all workers now say leaving their current job will be their boss’ decision. Twenty percent (20%) aren’t sure.

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Just 22% say they are looking for a job outside their current company, unchanged from July. Sixty-seven percent (67%) say they are not looking, but that’s down five points from the previous survey.

Not surprisingly, younger workers are much more likely to be looking than their elders. Unmarried adults are more than twice as likely to be looking for a new job as those who are married.

One-out-of-three workers (33%) believe their next job will be better than the one they currently have. Twenty-one percent (21%) say their next job will not be better, and 28% plan to retire after the job they have now, up six points from July. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure.

Women more strongly than men think their next job will be better. Blacks are more confident that their next job will be better than whites are. Generally speaking, the more one earns the less likely they are to view their next job as potentially better than their current one.

Forty-two percent (42%) of workers say they have a better opportunity for career advancement by staying with their current company. But nearly as many (35%) say they have more opportunity by going to work for someone else. Twenty-four percent (24%) are undecided.

A plurality of men (46%) say staying with their current employer offers better opportunities. Women are evenly divided on the question.

Workers over 40 see more opportunity with their current boss, while those younger have higher hopes in working somewhere else. Forty-seven percent (47%) of government employees think they can move ahead better if they stay where they are, but those working in the private sector are evenly divided.

Unemployment in September was at a 26-year high of 9.8 percent nationwide. A government report scheduled for release on Friday is likely to show the unemployment rate exceeding 10 percent.

For the 13th straight month, the Rasmussen Employment Index finds that the percentage of firms laying off employees exceeds the number that are hiring.

Some in Congress are considering a second stimulus plan to fight the country’s growing unemployment problem, but 62% of voters oppose the passage of another economic stimulus package this year.

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