The Most Satisfying Jobs Are? Survey Says...

Are you happy? Do you like your job? Really? But who really does, right?

According to the 2006 General Social Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago (GSS), the people who are the most satisfied with their work and thus with their life overall, are those in positions of helping other people, for the most part, or teaching, or professions in the creative realm.

The survey was conducted by surveying a cross section of people who most adequately represent the nation as a whole. The participants are selected at random; this study was made up of 27,000 people; and the current survey was comprised of questions in regard to job satisfaction and overall happiness one feels in their life.

Not surprising, one's individual contentment in their job highly affects their general sense of happiness.

Tom Smith, the director of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, leading up the survey, said that "work occupies a large part of each worker's day, is one's main source of social standing, helps to define who a person is and affects one's health both physically and mentally...because of work's central role in many people's lives, satisfaction with one's job is an important component in overall well-being." His comments were published in report on the study.

Of course it can be argued that every job is important, and that anyone can feel happiness and pride in a job well done. The numbers show that across the board, 47% of people reported satisfaction in their job and 33% said that they were really happy.

Those who reported the highest job satisfaction and the percentage of those who reported being very satisfied in their jobs:

•Clergy-87 percent percent

•Firefighters-80 percent percent

•Physical therapists-78 percent percent

•Authors-74 percent

•Special education teachers-70 percent

•Teachers-69 percent

•Education administrators-68 percent

•Painters and sculptors-67 percent

•Psychologists-67 percent

•Security and financial services salespersons-65 percent

•Operating engineers-64 percent

•Office supervisors-61 percent

Here is the other end of the spectrum, the jobs in which people felt the least satisfied and the percentages of those who said that they are satisfied with their jobs:

•Laborers, except construction-21 percent

•Apparel clothing salespersons-24 percent

•Handpackers and packagers-24 percent

•Food preparers-24 percent

•Roofers-25 percent

•Cashiers-25 percent

•Furniture and home-furnishing salespersons-25 percent

•Bartenders-26 percent

•Freight, stock and material handlers-26 percent

•Waiters and servers-27 percent

For many of the professions surveyed, prestige was found to be an aspect of job satisfaction with most, except for in the case of many lawyers and doctors. Their overall happiness was not as high as one might have expected, and Smith feels this is the case because of the overwhelming stress often tied to those jobs.

Those who topped the charts for overall happiness were clergy, special education teachers, and firefighters. At the bottom of the list were roofers.

A similar study conducted by TNS, a leading market information company (LSE: TNN), in 2004 shows that job satisfaction in Americans is dropping. In the 2004 study, only about 50% were satisfied in their jobs, a significant drop from their previous survey.

They concluded that transitions such as quickly changing technology, increased employee expectation and rising productivity demands all decreased the level of employee satisfaction. Oddly, neither survey reflected a link between money and satisfaction.

In fact, the TNS survey reflected that about 25% of all Americans are simply "showing up to collect a paycheck."

Sources:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070418/sc_livescience/surveyrevealsmostsatisfyingjobs;_ylt=AluqNm8pSz9w7O_rHhHyxUDMWM0F

http://www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressDetail.cfm?press_ID=2582