Americans Hate Their Jobs More Than Ever

Work is a four letter word, but surprisingly, people still think of “job satisfaction” when they assess their employment situation. According to The Conference Board, a body devoted to finding out what people in the economy are thinking, more Americans are dissatisfied with their jobs than are content. This echoes a study done by CareerBuilder.com in January that says 80% of US workers don’t have their dream job. Given the changes in the work place in the last 20 years, this shouldn’t be a surprise.

The Conference Board discovered that there was some correlation between age and happiness on the job. Basically, the oldest cohort of workers is the happiest, while the youngest is the least satisfied. Almost half of those over 55 were happy with their jobs. Those under 25 had a satisfaction rate of just 39%. Given that the over 55 folks have had 30 years to find a job they like and that the under 25s are doing the donkey, scut work known as “entry-level employment,” this is perfectly understandable.

What is less obvious is the decline in satisfaction in the last two decades. The Conference Board did this survey for the first time twenty years ago, and 61% of respondents were content. The late 1980s were the height of the yuppie boom, but most workers weren’t in that category. The contentment was more broadly spread. Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center said, “Although a certain amount of dissatisfaction with one’s job is to be expected, the breadth of dissatisfaction is somewhat unsettling, since it carries over from what attracts employees to a job to what keeps them motivated and productive on the job.”

Money does buy a certain degree of happiness, it turns out. People making under $15,000 a year are not happy with their jobs (good for them), and folks pulling down more than $50,000 annually were the most satisfied. At the same time, the biggest factors in driving down satisfaction were weak bonus plans, poor promotion opportunities, excessive workload and limited growth potential.

By region, this journal is unsurprised to learn that the Mid-Atlantic states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania had the most dissatisfied workers (59% of them were unhappy). At the same time, the mountain states of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico had a combined satisfaction rate of 56%. One is unsurprised because most people in the mountain states have moved there from other places; it’s always a bit better if one has chosen to live and work in a certain place rather than just being born into it. Sunshine, skiing and hiking, casinos and open spaces might have something to do with it as well -- which means the job satisfaction is merely a reflection the rest of one's life. As it should be.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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