The Happiest And Unhappiest Industries In 2014
Which professions have the happiest workers? Sexy industries like the
movies or lucrative, intellectually challenging businesses like
software engineering? It so happens that both of those professions make
it into the top five happiest industries, according to a new list
compiled by seven-year-old Irvine, CA career website CareerBliss.
Though I tend to be skeptical about happiest and unhappiest lists,
CareerBliss collected an impressive amount of data to put this one
together. It tallied 9,800 company reviews generated by its users. It
asked them to rate their happiness on a scale of one to five in eight
different categories. Then it crunched the numbers and tallied the
answers out to three decimal points. The categories:
1. Person you work for
2. People you work with
3. Work setting
4. Support you get
5. Rewards you receive
6. Growth opportunities
7. Company culture
8. Way you work
The industry that comes out on top: Software publishers. They get a 4.014 score overall, with the highest mark for “people you work with,” at 4.485. That makes sense, since software developers are by definition a smart, clever bunch. They also give a high score for “way you work,” at 4.006, meaning that the work itself is rewarding.
The second-happiest industry: Radio and Television Broadcasting, with a rating of 3.978. I have first-hand experience with this business, having worked for five years on a TV news show. I liked my boss, my colleagues, the company culture and the work itself. The CareerCast results reflect similar sentiments. As do software engineers, these workers give the highest rating to “people you work with,” at 4.441 with “person you work for” close behind, at 4.324.
Number three: Educational Services, with a 3.954 rating. I’m heartened by this result. Presumably it means that the teachers who instruct our kids are happy in their work. In fact bosses, colleagues and “way you work” all scored about a 4. From my experience, the people who devote their lives to pedagogy do it because they love it and find it meaningful. They’re intelligent and caring and they want to make an impact on their students’ lives.
No. 4: Management of Companies and Enterprises. For those who manage well, this can be an extremely rewarding career. These folks give 4s and above to the people they work for, the people they work with and the way they work.
Rounding out the top 5: Motion Picture and Video Industries. As in the other top-rated industries, these people like their bosses, co-workers and the way they work, rating them 4 and up. We all know that the film business can be exciting and star-studded. The thrill of writing a screenplay that gets produced, designing costumes that get paraded across a stage or set and acting a challenging role must make those workers truly happy. In fact this category gets the highest rating for “way you work” of the 21 professions CareerCast ranks.
While it’s intriguing to note which industries rank as “happiest,” it’s also striking that across the board, workers say they are happiest about the people who supervise them and who work alongside them. They all give lower marks for growth opportunities and the rewards they receive, which includes compensation and pay raises. Those results reflect stagnating wages and job growth for American workers across the board. According to a January New York Times story, wages have fallen to a record low as a share of American gross domestic product. Until 1975, wages stayed at or above 50% of GDP. But since 2001, wages have been slipping. In 2013, the share was the lowest-ever, at 43.5% of GDP. Another fact that makes workers dissatisfied with the reward they receive: the bulk of wages are going to the top 1% of earners, Harvard labor economist Lawrence Katz told the Times. That means Hollywood stars, Wall Street CEOs and sports greats are raking it in while the rest of us are losing ground. Writes the Times: “The share of wages going to the top 1% climbed to 12.9% in 2010, from 7.3% in 1979.” So if you can be happy given all of that, more power to you.
At the bottom of the list of 21 industries CareerCast measured: “Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services.” I take that to mean secretaries and garbage collectors. I’ve been a secretary and I attest that it’s a pretty awful job. I remember getting yelled at a lot, blamed for others’ mistakes and filling my day with tedious tasks like phone answering and typing. That was a long time ago but though I suspect an assistant’s job today has more technological bells and whistles, the job still feels like a tedious dead end. In fact it scored 2.684 in the “growth opportunities” category on the CareerBliss survey. As for garbage collectors, if any are reading this story, I’d love to hear from you. But I can only imagine it’s a physically grueling job, especially through this Eastern winter of snow and sleet. I admire you all for sticking it out.
1. Person you work for
2. People you work with
3. Work setting
4. Support you get
5. Rewards you receive
6. Growth opportunities
7. Company culture
8. Way you work
The industry that comes out on top: Software publishers. They get a 4.014 score overall, with the highest mark for “people you work with,” at 4.485. That makes sense, since software developers are by definition a smart, clever bunch. They also give a high score for “way you work,” at 4.006, meaning that the work itself is rewarding.
The second-happiest industry: Radio and Television Broadcasting, with a rating of 3.978. I have first-hand experience with this business, having worked for five years on a TV news show. I liked my boss, my colleagues, the company culture and the work itself. The CareerCast results reflect similar sentiments. As do software engineers, these workers give the highest rating to “people you work with,” at 4.441 with “person you work for” close behind, at 4.324.
Number three: Educational Services, with a 3.954 rating. I’m heartened by this result. Presumably it means that the teachers who instruct our kids are happy in their work. In fact bosses, colleagues and “way you work” all scored about a 4. From my experience, the people who devote their lives to pedagogy do it because they love it and find it meaningful. They’re intelligent and caring and they want to make an impact on their students’ lives.
No. 4: Management of Companies and Enterprises. For those who manage well, this can be an extremely rewarding career. These folks give 4s and above to the people they work for, the people they work with and the way they work.
Rounding out the top 5: Motion Picture and Video Industries. As in the other top-rated industries, these people like their bosses, co-workers and the way they work, rating them 4 and up. We all know that the film business can be exciting and star-studded. The thrill of writing a screenplay that gets produced, designing costumes that get paraded across a stage or set and acting a challenging role must make those workers truly happy. In fact this category gets the highest rating for “way you work” of the 21 professions CareerCast ranks.
While it’s intriguing to note which industries rank as “happiest,” it’s also striking that across the board, workers say they are happiest about the people who supervise them and who work alongside them. They all give lower marks for growth opportunities and the rewards they receive, which includes compensation and pay raises. Those results reflect stagnating wages and job growth for American workers across the board. According to a January New York Times story, wages have fallen to a record low as a share of American gross domestic product. Until 1975, wages stayed at or above 50% of GDP. But since 2001, wages have been slipping. In 2013, the share was the lowest-ever, at 43.5% of GDP. Another fact that makes workers dissatisfied with the reward they receive: the bulk of wages are going to the top 1% of earners, Harvard labor economist Lawrence Katz told the Times. That means Hollywood stars, Wall Street CEOs and sports greats are raking it in while the rest of us are losing ground. Writes the Times: “The share of wages going to the top 1% climbed to 12.9% in 2010, from 7.3% in 1979.” So if you can be happy given all of that, more power to you.
At the bottom of the list of 21 industries CareerCast measured: “Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services.” I take that to mean secretaries and garbage collectors. I’ve been a secretary and I attest that it’s a pretty awful job. I remember getting yelled at a lot, blamed for others’ mistakes and filling my day with tedious tasks like phone answering and typing. That was a long time ago but though I suspect an assistant’s job today has more technological bells and whistles, the job still feels like a tedious dead end. In fact it scored 2.684 in the “growth opportunities” category on the CareerBliss survey. As for garbage collectors, if any are reading this story, I’d love to hear from you. But I can only imagine it’s a physically grueling job, especially through this Eastern winter of snow and sleet. I admire you all for sticking it out.
Comments