Happy campers

The third annual SnagAJob.com labor happiness survey finds that 58% of Americans are “happy on the job,” down 7% from the 2008 survey. More than 1,000 hourly and salaried workers across the U.S. were surveyed.

“Even as we continue to face layoffs and other corporate cutbacks, the majority of the American workforce remains upbeat about their jobs,” Shawn Boyer, founder and CEO of SnagAJob.com, said in a press release. “But on the whole, we’re not as happy. Ongoing anxiety about the economy may well be chipping away at the happiness level.”

According to the survey, only 24% said their happiness stems from the fact they are still employed during the national recession. Jobs that provide personal satisfaction or that fit their lifestyle is the reason 41% said they were happy on the job.

Workers are cautiously optimistic about the economy, with 56% saying the economy has stabilized and 36% saying the economy will get worse before it gets better. Only 4% say the economy has turned the corner.

“It’s clear that most Americans are cautiously optimistic about their jobs and the economy itself,” Boyer said. “We believe the economy is moving in the right direction based on the feedback we’re getting from hiring managers across the country.”

OTHER SURVEY FINDINGS
• The economy still is considered by most (56%) to be the No. 1 issue facing America today, followed by healthcare (15%), immigration (6%), the war (6%), the environment (5%), terrorism (5%) and the housing market (3%).

• In the first SnagAJob.com Labor Happiness Index (2007), Americans were most concerned about healthcare (21%) and the war in Iraq (20%); only 18 percent cited the economy as the leading issue.

• Most of those surveyed (52%) report a decline in job security, saying that their job is less secure than it was a year ago, and of those, only half (49%) expressed happiness with their jobs. Conversely, seven in 10 (70%) of those who think their jobs are secure say they are happy at work.

• The survey found that women (64%) are among the happiest in the workplace, as are workers between 34-54 years of age (64%), those over 55 (70%) and those who are married (62%).

• Three in five (59%) earning less than $25,000 per year say they are happy with their job, a figure nearly equivalent to those earning at least $50,000 (62%).

• Among the least happy are workers 18-34 years old (47%) and those who are not married (51%).

• Looking to the future, four in five (77%) say they have no plans to look for a new job now or in the near future and almost three in four (73%) say they are not proactively thinking of changing their job. Married workers are even more likely than those who are unmarried to stay put for the time being (79% vs. 61%).