Category: Employment

Among those employed, 16% are self-employed and 84% work for someone else. Close to one in three (30% of employed Americans) work for large corporations, and 28% work for small businesses. The remaining 39% of employed Americans work for medium-sized companies, for the government, in educational institutions, or in the non-profit sector, according to Pew Internet Project.

Managers and professionals are much more likely to work over 40 hours per week than employees in other job categories. 23% of professionals work over 50 hours a week, significantly more than the proportion of clerical workers (10%), service workers (6%) or skilled workers (14%) who put in work weeks that long. The cohort of managers and business owners who work over 50 hours a week (24%) is also significantly more than clerical and service workers who work the same hours. Additionally, 36% of managers and business owners work 41-50 hours a week, significantly more than professionals (24%), clerks (21%) and service workers (14%) who work those hours, according to Pew Internet Project.

Fully 98% of employed Americans making over $75,000 a year are satisfied with their jobs, significantly more than any other income group. Fully 38% of those in the highest earning bracket say they are completely satisfied with their jobs, and 61% say they are mostly satisfied. That compares with just 31% of those earning less than $30,000 per year who are completely satisfied, and 57% who are mostly satisfied, according to Pew Internet Project.

90% of Americans are satisfied with their jobs, 57% mostly satisfied and 33% completely satisfied with their jobs. Only 10% are either mostly or completely dissatisfied. Ten years later, in 1999, another Gallup poll showed that 86% of employees were completely or somewhat satisfied with their jobs; 14% were dissatisfied, according to Pew Internet Project.

59% of professional animators enjoyed their work and are proud of the work they do. More than 80% plan to continue working in this field and more than half would recommend a career in animation to friends and family. These statistics put animators high on the list of highest occupations when compared to national averages found in Job Satisfaction in America survey that identified clergy (67.2%) and firefighters (57.2%) the top professions where individuals classified themselves as “very happy.”

When asked whether this is a bad time to find a quality job, 65% of Americans said it was, matching the level of the 2001 recession, according to Rutgers University’s John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development. With unemployment at 5.7%, the highest level since 2004, and weekly unemployment claims hitting a six-year high earlier this month, workers are worried about everything from their weekly hours to their total pay. About one-third of respondents say the amount they owe on credit cards exceeds their retirement savings; another 3% say their credit card debt would cancel out their retirement account. 91% of workers say they’re “very” or “somewhat satisfied” with their jobs.

A majority of American workers hold favorable attitudes toward their health and retirement benefits (62%), the number of hours they work (83%), and their annual income (74%). 55% of hourly workers are satisfied with their health and medical benefits, compared to 75% of salaried workers.

During 2007, 5,488 Americans died from job-related injuries, a 6% decrease from 2006. Workplace murders increased 13% to 610 homicides. Fishing continues to be the most dangerous job, a position it has held for the last three years, followed by flying and logging, Bureau of Labor Statistics says.