Scientists surveyed thousands of people with hundreds of occupations to determine which jobs are the most and least satisfying in the world. Researchers at the University of Tartu in Estonia used data from the Estonian Biobank in the "most comprehensive and rigorous study" yet on job satisfaction differences, a report by the New Scientist said.
The group analysed 59,000 people and 263 occupations from blood donors who completed a survey about details of their jobs, salaries, personalities and satisfaction.
These details were then used to determine which occupations affected people's general satisfaction with life. According to the study, the most fulfilling jobs include clergy, medical professions and writing.
The most fulfilling job
On the other hand, the jobs that made people the least satisfied included working in kitchens, transport, storage, manufacturing and sales.
When considering overall life satisfaction and not just careers, medical professionals, psychologists, special-needs teachers, sheet-metal workers, and engineers rated their life satisfaction highly, while security guards, waiters, sales workers, mail carriers, carpenters and chemical engineers did not.
High income = high satisfaction?
Surprisingly, higher income didn’t correlate strongly with job or life satisfaction, nor did the prestige of a job. “I was expecting the job prestige to be more associated with satisfaction, but there was only a slight correlation. Jobs with a higher sense of achievement are associated with higher satisfaction, and even lower-prestige jobs can be quite fulfilling," Katlin Anni, who led the study, said.
{{/usCountry}}Surprisingly, higher income didn’t correlate strongly with job or life satisfaction, nor did the prestige of a job. “I was expecting the job prestige to be more associated with satisfaction, but there was only a slight correlation. Jobs with a higher sense of achievement are associated with higher satisfaction, and even lower-prestige jobs can be quite fulfilling," Katlin Anni, who led the study, said.
{{/usCountry}}However, all "low-satisfaction" jobs often included a stressful factor, she said, like having a lot of responsibility, like managers in a large company. On the other hand, self-employed people rated their satisfaction levels as high due to their independence or the opportunity to regulate their work days.
Anni thinks that these patterns can provide a larger insight into job satisfaction, but not all jobs can be generalised based on the findings of the study.