Don't like your job?
We all complain, and sometimes it feels like everyone hates their work—as if we're destined for the cubicled nightmare that the film Office Space so adequately imagined, our skin slowly withering under fluorescent light. And some days, the alarm clock feels particularly cruel (How did its screams arrive so quickly?) as we pull on our work uniforms—make no mistake, we all wear work uniforms of some sort—and trudge to do a job that we feel won't leave us fulfilled. Sometimes, to use the parlance of youths, you just can't even.
But, apparently, you'd be wrong to think everyone is unhappy with their work.
Most Americans are at least happy to some degree with their jobs, according to a new survey released Wednesday by The Economist/YouGov. The poll asked: "How happy would you say you are with your current job?" Twenty-three percent responded very happy, while 35 percent said happy. Thirty-one percent, meanwhile, described themselves as being neither happy nor unhappy. Just 7 percent said they were unhappy, and only 5 percent said they were very unhappy.
A majority of Americans were also pretty sure they were going to keep their jobs. Just 9 percent described being "very worried" they would lose their jobs, 31 percent were "somewhat" worried and 59 percent were "not very" worried. The U.S. unemployment rate is relatively low, at 4.3 percent.
The poll from The Economist/YouGov surveyed 1,500 U.S. adults from June 18 through June 20. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
A 2016 study from the Society for Human Resource Management also found that a lot of folks were happy in their jobs. Eighty-eight percent of workers described overall satisfaction with their current jobs, the highest such figure of the last decade. The top factors behind overall satisfaction were respectful treatment of employees, pay, benefits and job security, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.
So maybe, if you're truly not happy at your job, it could be time to look elsewhere—most Americans don't feel the same.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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