In the 2009 edition of an annual job satisfaction survey conducted for the Conference Board, only 45 percent of Americans said they were satisfied with their jobs, a considerable drop from the more than 61 percent who said they were satisfied with their jobs in 1987, the first year the survey was conducted. Only 35 percent of workers younger than 25 years old said they were satisfied with their jobs, a figure that is about 10 points less than workers in other age groups.
In 1987, 70% of workers making over $50,000 said they were satisfied with their jobs. This year, just half—50% of those making over $50,000—report satisfaction with their jobs. The survey, conducted by TNS (a large custom research company), was part of the Consumer Confidence Survey based on a representative sample of 5,000 US households.
Section headings in the report strike a dire tone:
• Highlights: Is Anybody Happy?
• Job Satisfaction and Employee Engagement: Trouble Ahead
• The 2009 Survey: Money Can’t Buy Happiness; Age Is No Cure
• A Generational Analysis: Are Boomers Losing Faith?
• So What’s an Employer to Do?
The front page graphic of the Conference Board report (which is titled, "I Can’t Get No ... Job Satisfaction, That Is: America’s Unhappy Workers" is a photograph of dark, heavy storm clouds. Marketplace made mention of it in 3 short paragraphs and saying:
The report says the bad economy is to blame. High unemployment makes it hard to find interesting work. Workers' incomes haven't kept up with inflation. And they must contribute more toward their health insurance.
While the gloss of the report simplistically blames the "bad economy" (high unemployment and flat-lined wages), the report and longer term data indicate otherwise. The report itself says "such an answer would be inaccurate".
An analysis of The Conference Board’s job satisfaction data over time finds that, unlike the economy, this increasing worker unhappiness is not cyclical. Through both economic boom and bust during the past two decades, the job satisfaction numbers have shown a consistent downward trend.
In other words, the disenchantment of the American worker is a very long-term and steady trend. Furthermore, the significant message of the report is not that the recession in the last year has caused a sudden wave of disappointment and dissatisfaction. While finding that only 45.3 percent of Americans today say they are satisfied with their jobs is clear cause for concern, the measure is a moderate 3.5 percent lower than last year's (2008) level. The report offers data since 1987 when 61.1% of employees said they were satisfied with their jobs. Across 23 years, Americans have become less and less satisfied, through better and worse economic conditions.
Strangely, the report’s recommendations are primarily focused on improving morale by improving "employee engagement" through improved communication. Decades old ideas about "job enrichment" are recycled to "[combat] flagging job satisfaction". Nothing is mentioned about workers' perceptions of fairness or "Organizational Justice", though about half of workers say they are satisfied with aspects of their "work environment". The aspects of jobs that get the lowest measures of satisfaction are most often non-economic aspects that management could address even in times of economic pressure:
Aspect of Job ----------- % Satisfied
Recognition/Acknowledgement---28.0
Performance Review Process---26.8
Workload---33.9
Work/Life Balance---36.1
Communication Channels---31.1
Potential for Future Growth---26.9
A few days ago the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition. In a story about the handbook release, NPR listed the 10 occupations that the BLS expects will provide the greatest number of new jobs over the next decade:
- Registered nurses
- Home health aides
- Customer service representatives
- Food preparation and serving workers
- Personal and home care aides
- Retail salespersons
- Office clerks
- Accountants
- Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants
- Postsecondary teachers
Note that six of the top seven fastest-growing occupations are low-skill, low-wage jobs. The NPR story highlights comments by Harvard University labor economist Lawrence Katz about the "polarization of the economy". Katz says the U.S. has experienced this for the past 15 years or so. It results in strong job growth for the high-paying jobs and the low-paying jobs at both ends of the labor market, but less growth in the middle to replace the well-paying manufacturing jobs the U.S. is losing. Katz expects half a decade or so to get to job levels of a year ago. The BLS report on expected job growth includes the table below:
Since the recession began two years ago, the U.S. has lost more than 7 million jobs, yet this list of 20 "promising" occupations suggests that in the next decadeless than 2 million jobs will be added in the "most promising occupations". The drop in the numbers from the first to the last—from 460,000 home health aides to only 6,000 athletic trainers—is shocking, too. Only six occupations expect to add over 100,000 jobs in the next 10 years. Two of those six are IT related, the rest are in health care. Apparently the BLS has not adopted a vision of a "new economy" having innovative green technologies and great jobs for Americans.
The combination of dissatisfied workers and limited opportunities bodes ill for the future. When an employee is unhappy with their job, they might sometimes resort to a labor action like a grievances or strike, or perhaps to leaving the job. With decimated labor unions and a grim labor market, American workers have no such recourse these days. Despite decades of academic arguments to the contrary, American business frequently acts as though job satisfaction is only about pay. These recent reports suggest there’s more to it than that. While circumstances surely have made workers thankful if they still have a job, they judge their job as being unsatisfactory. While CEO’s and stock holders imagine the cycle has turned toward recovery, American workers have little grounds for optimism.