We Really, Really Hate Our Jobs

With employers pretty much being able to increase workloads and cut costs, almost at will, it’s no wonder that Americans dislike their jobs at the highest level in over two decades. All the bosses have to do is point at the incredibly high unemployment rate and the contraction in consumer spending. Insert the cracking sound of a whip. Not that being an employer is particularly fun these days, where customers’ spending habits are possibly creating a generation of economically-threatened misers. Insert the sound of hitting bottom.

45% of Americans expressed job satisfaction in a recent poll; the rest… well…. According to the January 5^th CBS2.com, “That was the lowest level ever recorded by the Conference Board research group in more than 22 years of studying the issue. In 2008, 49 percent of those surveyed reported satisfaction with their jobs… The drop in workers’ happiness can be partly blamed on the worst recession since the 1930s, which made it difficult for some people to find challenging and suitable jobs. But worker dissatisfaction has been on the rise for more than two decades.”

The source of dissatisfaction, according to the pollsters, varied from boring work, a failure of pay scales to keep up with inflation, soaring medical costs and falling benefits to a decline in job security and the loss of the notion of teamwork, where everyone is out for themselves and holding onto what they have. I suspect the feeling of being trapped, with few if any alternatives available, may add a psychological discomfort even for those who are not even interested in switching jobs. The fact that there are six people looking for every job opening is a very sobering thought.

Times have changed significantly. “One clue that may explain workers’ growing dissatisfaction: Only 51 percent now find their jobs interesting - another low in the survey's 22 years. In 1987, nearly 70 percent said they were interested in their work.” CBS2.com Wow! And we now face competition from skilled and qualified workers in other countries whose wage and benefit packages represent a fraction of what is still accorded to their American counterparts. To make matters worse, the highest level of unhappiness (64%) resides with the youngest workers (under 25), who will be around the longest to face this foreign competition. Exactly how competitive and quality-oriented are unhappy workers?

If things are bad for the employed, the situation borders on the intolerable for the unemployed of this country. The December 14^th New York Times reports the results of a NY Times/CBS poll taken of several hundred unemployed workers: with half reporting mental anguish (depression or anxiety), “Joblessness has wreaked financial and emotional havoc on the lives of many of those out of work… causing major life changes, mental health issues and trouble maintaining even basic necessities… Roughly half of the respondents described the recession as a hardship that had caused fundamental changes in their lives. Generally, those who have been out of work longer reported experiencing more acute financial and emotional effects…

“With unemployment driving foreclosures nationwide, a quarter of those polled said they had either lost their home or been threatened with foreclosure or eviction for not paying their mortgage or rent. About a quarter… have received food stamps. More than half said they had cut back on both luxuries and necessities in their spending. Seven in 10 rated their family’s financial situation as fairly bad or very bad… But the impact on their lives was not limited to the difficulty in paying bills. Almost half said unemployment had led to more conflicts or arguments with family members and friends; 55 percent have suffered from insomnia.”

We’re getting used to living with less… unless we are working for a Wall Street Pig-Firm… and the scars of this economic meltdown – even when these horrific days are well behind us – will still be visible as these latest “depression babies” take their place in history… trying to convince future generations, who may not experience such an economic collapse, that markets fall, unemployment rises, and you have to prepare for the rainy day… hell, the worse downpour for the longest time you can imagine. We are survivors; we create, build and grow… It’s not over, it’s not forever, but we do need to find a whole lot of new paths and new ways of walking and talking.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I approve this message.