Americans hate their jobs more than ever before in the past 20 years,
with fewer than half saying they are satisfied.
The trend is strongest among workers under the age of 25, less than 39
percent of whom are satisfied with their jobs.
Workers age 45 to 54 have the second lowest level of satisfaction,
according a survey conducted by The Conference Board, a market information
company.
Older people like their jobs more. Nearly half of all workers over 55
are satisfied with their employment situation.
Overall, dissatisfaction has spread among all workers, regardless of
age, income or residence. Twenty years ago, the first time the survey was
conducted, 61 percent of all Americans said they were satisfied with their
jobs, according to the representative survey of 5,000 U.S. households,
said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research
Center.
"Although a certain amount of dissatisfaction with one's job is to be
expected, the breadth of dissatisfaction is somewhat unsettling." Franco said.
Money rarely buys happiness but it can buy job satisfaction. People
making under $15,000 per year reported the lowest satisfaction while those
making more than $50,000 per year said they were the most satisfied.
People living in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are the most
disgruntled, with less than 41% percent say they are satisfied with their
current job, and people living in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah,
Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico were most likely to whistle while they
work (56 percent reported being satisfied).
The thing that bugged most
workers the most about their jobs were bonus plans and promotion policies.
Workload and potential for growth were rated poorly also.
But the majority of workers polled found their work and co-workers
interesting and their commute satisfying.
