Majority of US workers are satisfied with their jobs, but nearly a third are not happy with their pay

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN

(CNN) — US workers feel relatively satisifed and secure in their jobs and few say they expect to look for a new job in the coming months, but close to a third say they are not satisfied with their pay.

That’s according to a new survey of nearly 5,400 US working adults, released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.

Pew found that 88% of respondents said they were either extremely or very satisfied with their jobs (50%) or somewhat satisfied (38%). White workers were most likely to say they were very satisfied (55%). By comparison, only 44% of Hispanic workers, 43% of Black workers and 42% of English-speaking Asian workers did.

In terms of age, people 65 and up (67%) were most likely to be highly satisfied, followed by workers between the ages of 50 and 64 (56%).

A little more than half of those who were middle- or upper-income earners were most likely to be very satisfied, as were 42% of lower-income earners.

When asked about specific factors in their jobs, a strong majority indicated some level of satisfaction (extremely, very or somewhat satisfied) when it came to benefits, pay, opportunities for promotion and training to develop new skills, as well as relationships with higher-ups and coworkers.

And a large majority (69%) said they felt a “great deal” or “fair amount” of job security.

But more than a third said they were not too satisfied (25%) or not at all satisfied (13%) with their opportunities for promotion. And nearly a third of all respondents said they were either not too satisfied with their pay (20%) or not at all satisfied (10%).

In that latter group, the top reason (80%) cited for their lack of satisfaction was that their wages haven’t kept pace with the cost of living. Other leading reasons selected were “your pay is too low for the quality of work you do” (71%) and “Your pay is too low for the amount of work you do” (70%).

Pew noted that a full-time year-round worker is earning a median of $60,000 today based on government data. That’s up 12% from $53,580 in 2000 after adjusting for inflation. But median earners are still making less than the inflation-adjusted $64,321 they made in 2020. The issue of inflation — particularly as it pertained to grocery prices — was an important factor in the 2024 US election for many voters, according to AP VoteCast.

A little respect may go a long way

One thing that may help explain why the majority of US workers say they feel secure or satisfied in their jobs is that they feel respected.

“Large shares of workers also say their co-workers (86%) and supervisors (82%) treat them with respect all or most of the time. About seven in 10 (72%) say the same about their customers or clients,” Pew researchers wrote.

Workers in the health care and social assistance fields are among the most likely to say they get a fair amount of respect (56%), while workers in the hospitality, service, arts, entertainment and recreation industries, as well as retail and trade, are among the least likely to say so.

New job anyone?

A majority of Pew survey respondents (63%) said they were unlikely to look for a new job in the coming months, while a quarter (25%) said they plan to do just that and 12% didn’t indicate one way or another.

Among the worker groups who said they were likely to job hunt, the highest percentages were reported among Black workers, lower-income workers and workers between the ages of 18 and 30 (37% each).

Those least likely to say they will look for new work were Whites (20%), upper-income earners (17%) and those between 50 and 64 (16%) and those 65 and older (10%).

As for other indicators, “it’s perhaps not surprising that workers who are not too or not at all satisfied with their job are far more likely than those who are extremely or very satisfied to say they’re likely to look for a new job (64% vs. 11%),” Pew noted in its report.

And, it added, “The share saying they’re likely to look for a new job decreases as perceptions of job security grow more optimistic. About six in 10 of those who say they have ‘no job security at all’ (58%) say they’re likely to look for a new job.”

Many expect it will be tougher to find work they want

Whether or not respondents plan to hit the pavement, 52% said they thought it would be hard to find a job they want today, well above the 37% who said the same in 2022.

“While the shares of workers who feel their job is secure and who say they’re likely to look for a new job in the near future are unchanged from two years ago, workers are now much more likely than in 2022 to say it would be very or somewhat difficult for them to get the kind of job they would want if they were to look for a new one today,” Pew researchers wrote.

And while that was true across all racial, income, age, educational attainment and gender groups, those with the largest shares of their cohort to say it would be tough to find work included people ages 18 to 29 and those with lower incomes.

Respondents in Pew’s survey, which was conducted in October, were all US adults 18 and older. They all work for pay either full- or part-time, and have either one job or one job they consider to be their primary job and they are not self-employed.

How the US workforce has changed

At the end of its report, Pew provided some context based on government data on how characteristics of US working adults have changed since 2000.

They more likely to have a college degree today (45% vs 31% in 2000) and are older. The median age of US workers is 42, up from 39 in 2000. And a larger percentage of workers are 50 or older (34% today vs. 24% in 2000).

While White workers still make up the majority of the adult workforce, their share has fallen to 60% from 71% a quarter of a century ago. Hispanic and Asian workers now make up a larger share than they did in 2000 (19% today vs. 12% then), while the share of Black workers has remained steady (12% today vs 11% in 2000). In terms of gender, women still make up roughly the same share over the time period (47% today vs. 46% then).

Workers born outside the US now make up 19% of the workforce, up from 13% in 2000.

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