It is estimated that the average person will spend around one third of their life working - so finding the right job that makes you happy is important. The main element to happiness in the workplace is job satisfaction, so we surveyed people across America to get their take on how satisfied they were in their careers and see which parts of the country have the happiest workforce (and which have the least). Our survey found that the type of career and path of study you pursue has a big impact on job satisfaction, and it turns out that where in the country you live and work also makes a difference.
Hawaii has claimed the top spot with the happiest workforce in America for the second year in a row, with Alaska (up six places from last year’s survey) and Wyoming (up three places from last year’s survey) rounding up the top three. New Mexico climbed a whopping 42 places to earn itself the fourth spot, with West Virginia falling three spaces to fifth place. It seems that the East Coast is where the country’s unhappiest workforce resides, with four out of five of the bottom states being from New England. Oregon made a debut in the bottom five, falling 20 places to the 46th spot. Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts follow in 47th, 48th and 49th place respectively. Washington D.C was labelled the least satisfied state, falling 12 places to the bottom spot.
Creativity was a big factor in job satisfaction — Video Game Producer, Film Director, Music Producer and Comedian were labelled as the happiest jobs in the country, along with Neurosurgeon. Service-based location-dependent jobs such as Telemarketer, Store Clerk, Cashier, Janitor and Machine Feeder were rated as the nation’s unhappiest jobs, signalling that passion-based creative jobs offer more job satisfaction than service-based jobs.
There is a direct link between job satisfaction and happiness, so take the career test today to match you to your perfect job.
