Althouse: We love our jobs!

March 1, 2010

We love our jobs!

70% of Americans who have jobs say their jobs are ideal.

Even people who make less than $12,000 a year are immensely satisfied: 57% say their jobs are ideal.

At the link, you can also see how perceptions of the job varies by the kind of job it is. The perception is highest among those who own their own business: 87%. But even if you go down to the lowest level, which is "service," you still get 60% of people saying their jobs are ideal.

What's going on?

29 comments:

Paddy O said...: "What is going on?"

People are happy to have a job in this economy.

Being paid is the best. It's fantastic.; 3/1/10, 1:37 PM
Anonymous said...: It's fairly simple, I think.

First, more than half your waking life is lived at work, so most probably people invest in finding work they claim to like, even if they're just claiming that to fool themselves.

Second, interestingly, there's almost a quarter of us in all income levels who do not find our jobs enjoyable - a number I think is quite high.

Thirdly, Gallup only spent time talking with employed people ... and with 25 million people in the country either fully unemployed or working part-time since they can't find a full-time job, that's probably a generally happy group relative to the nation as a whole.

A lot of people have no jobs, but Gallup didn't interview them.

Lots of us don't "love our jobs" even though they pay a LOT of money. And lots of us have no jobs at all.

Everything is relative. If I had any job right now, it would be preferable to the misery the massive numbers of unemployed are currently enduring.; 3/1/10, 1:39 PM
Anonymous said...: This is, indeed, the best of all possible worlds.; 3/1/10, 1:39 PM
Witness said...: We're Americans.; 3/1/10, 1:40 PM
Sarah from VA said...: Wow, all of these people have better attitudes than me. I've never had a job yet where I've thought it was IDEAL. But then, I have worked an awful lot of retail. And I can't see retail being considered ideal by anywhere NEAR those numbers of workers there.

It is interesting to see it broken up by ages, though. In the 18-29 group, it splits more like half and half, which is a little more reasonable but still surprising to me.

I would sure like to have one of those ideal jobs, though. Good to know that there's a surprising number of them out there.; 3/1/10, 1:41 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: I saw something today that said 2 out of 12 workers work for the state or local govt. That is almost 17% right there if you assume all the state/ local guvmint workers are happy.

Plus in this Great Recession That is Not Ending Yet, I assume more people are just happy to have a job.; 3/1/10, 1:41 PM
Ray said...: What's going on?

People's bosses were nearby when the survey was taken.; 3/1/10, 1:44 PM
MadisonMan said...: Americans are a happy people.; 3/1/10, 2:01 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: We don't hear from people who LIKE their jobs.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that people choose their lives, and you can see what they want by what they do. Not necessarily what they say.; 3/1/10, 2:03 PM
Methadras said...: I love what I do. I just don't love the circumstances behind getting to do what I love.; 3/1/10, 2:04 PM
David said...: We like our attitudes, our intentions and our behaviors to match, so if we can't change our behaviors, we change our attitudes.; 3/1/10, 2:08 PM
traditionalguy said...: A American job proves that a person has value, because in an at will employment state that allows free firing of employees not under a written contract (usually via a Union) every job proves its value. That is not the European/Obamian view of a job where one cannot be fired for life. That system causes depression and bitterness that some other guy/gal got more free benefits than you did.; 3/1/10, 2:13 PM
steve said...: I hate my job; 3/1/10, 2:15 PM
AllenS said...: I loved retiring from my job. The worse thing was the 4 weeks of days, then 4 weeks of afternoons, and then the worse shift, 4 weeks of midnights. Midnights almost killed me.; 3/1/10, 2:20 PM
kjbe said...: I don't love my job, but I love that I have one. I don't hate my job, either - just grateful that I found a job (one that I can pay the bills with) and that a job found me.; 3/1/10, 2:37 PM
ricpic said...: Once you get into a routine it's a great routine. Well, maybe with the exception of cleaning out horse barns.; 3/1/10, 3:00 PM
KCFleming said...: "Would you say that your job is the ideal job for you, or not?"

That is a different question than the headline suggests, which says that 70% of U.S. workers "Say Their Jobs Are Ideal".

Not really.

They say their job is "the ideal job for them", but can mean several things.

One interpretation is that they are in the ideal career, for whatever reasons. It does not mean that the particular employer they have is the ideal employer.

I don't think that is true at all.

It's a vague and therefore useless question.; 3/1/10, 3:05 PM
The Drill SGT said...: NewHam said...
Second, interestingly, there's almost a quarter of us in all income levels who do not find our jobs enjoyable - a number I think is quite high.

I don't agree with you. I think it's a definitional thing.

Ideal generally means "perfect" or "optimum". I think that this was too high a standard, however, you equate

"less than ideal" = "unenjoyable"

rather than "not perfect"; 3/1/10, 3:05 PM
traditionalguy said...: The Baby Boomers began defining a job as doing something you really enjoy doing. To every other generation a job was called work because it was not that pleasant, yet it was a necessary part of the man's role to provide for his family. The answert that turns out right is blowing in the winds of the new Obama Depression.; 3/1/10, 3:31 PM
Joe said...: Always interesting to be in a minority.

(Okay, there are parts of my job that I like. Dealing with management and all the corporate bullshit, both PC and pure bureaucracy drive me crazy. And then there's the commute. Don't get me started on my fucking commute.); 3/1/10, 3:33 PM
Joe said...: BTW, why don't I do what I really love? Because what I really love doesn't pay shit.

Then there's the option of making porn, not being it, but making it. My wife doesn't approve (yes, I asked.); 3/1/10, 3:35 PM
Jake said...: Peopls are like dogs. Give them something to do and they are happy.; 3/1/10, 5:34 PM
Henry said...: Well I wouldn't mind better benefits. So I'm not in the "ideal" category. But I do like my job.

But let's be clear -- "ideal" isn't the same thing as "satisfied." You could be making less than $12,000 a year and have an "ideal" job. Maybe it's part time. Maybe you have no skills and are getting some. Maybe you like being a barista.

Maybe Americans are just very pragmatic and objective.; 3/1/10, 5:42 PM
Phil 314 said...: Even people who make less than $12,000 a year are immensely satisfied: 57%

Is that good or bad?; 3/1/10, 5:56 PM
amba said...: They're just so happy to have a job! Obviously!; 3/1/10, 10:24 PM
William said...: My experience of work is that it sucks. If you have your own business, the shoe pinches in a different place but still you're not barefoot at the beach. That said, work was about the most interesting part of my life and probably others here as well. Work sucks but so does marriage, parenthood, and recent Harrison Ford movies. The nature of life is that most things suck...When I realized that work was more a source of money than fulfillment, I became reconciled to it. When I made enough money to live indepently without working, I disovered that work and I had irreconciliable differences. I retired in my mid fifties. Everyone said I would be bored. Well, right, but boredom is much easier to negotiate than the petty haggling and talk in telephones that was much of my working life....I think it would be pretty cool to star in action adventure movies with beautiful women and go all around the world. Looking back I regret that I did not choose to pursue that career path.; 3/1/10, 11:59 PM
Joseph said...: "What is going on?"

antidepressants; 3/2/10, 10:41 AM
HT said...: I'm gonna disagree Paddy O. and say that for me, getting paid while taking time off is the best. We expect to get paid if we work. We deserve it. But wow, paid time off, now THAT in this economy seems like a true gift from God.; 3/2/10, 5:09 PM
hl67 said...: I have a friend who is a croupier in a casino. He says "My job is ideal." (I deal)

He also makes other puns like "My job is a big deal."; 2/4/11, 6:10 PM