Nearly two-in-three American workers say they have strong doubts that they eventually will be able to stop working and retire, according to a new StrategyOne survey.

Nearly 64% of more than 1,000 survey participants said they believe that realistically they won’t ever be able to stop working and retire, and the uncertainty of the long-term picture may help explain the divide among American workers over whether they believe they labor at a job (52%) or in a long-term career (48%).

“While employed Americans on the whole enjoy their work and get satisfaction from it, there is a real sense that the retirement ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ may not be there for them,” said Bradley Honan, senior vice president of StrategyOne.

The current economic downturn has produced a situation where almost half (46%) of workers have had their wages or salaries reduced over the past couple of years, and a similar segment are concerned about losing their jobs (44%) or having their hours cut back (48%).