Study: Careers helping others are among the happiest
Want to up your happiness and satisfaction with your career, and life in general? How about a career focused on helping people? According to a new study out of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, "workers who spend their days improving the lives of others are among the most satisfied in the country."
The new report links people’s jobs to how satisfied they are in their careers as well as to their general happiness. “Work…is one’s main source of social standing, helps to define who a person is, and affects one’s health both physically and mentally,” wrote Tom W. Smith, director of the General Social Survey (GSS) at the University-affiliated National Opinion Research Center, in the report.
“We found that occupations that involved a high degree of prestige, particularly those involving caring for others…were the highest in job satisfaction,” Smith said in a telephone interview. Clergy ranked the highest, with 87.2 percent saying they were “very satisfied” in their careers. Firefighters (80.1 percent) and physical therapists (78.1 percent) were close runners-up. Rounding out the top 10 were education administrators, painters and sculptors, teachers, authors, psychologists, special education instructors, and operating engineers.
The results are drawn from over 27,000 face to face interviews with people across the US done between 1988 to 2006.
Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM
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Posted by: Christine@Manta | May 24, 2007 at 07:49 AM