In US, workers who help others report most happiness

Clergy, firefighters, and teachers top the lists of happiest and most satisfied workers in their occupations.

from the April 17, 2007 edition

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As she listens to the other jobs that have high satisfaction, Daniel chuckles. "I would say all those jobs – except maybe firefighter – represent a piece of what I do."

Kenneth Carder, a retired United Methodist bishop, agrees. "It's one of the few generalists left in our society," he says. He spent more than 30 years as pastor of local congregations and later joined Duke University's divinity school to teach aspiring clergy. He asks his students tough questions to make sure they're ready for some of the hardships – living in a fishbowl, living with ambiguities, helping people in difficult circumstances – but he says the rewards are significant.

"One of the things human beings have to have in order to survive is a sense of meaning," Bishop Carder says. "Pastors are able to immerse themselves in both understanding what is of ultimate meaning, and also to engage with people who are also in search of meaning."

Some other professions that might have been expected to score high – lawyers, doctors, bankers, and other well-compensated, high-prestige jobs – did well, Smith says, but weren't in the top dozen. Some 58 percent of physicians and 52 percent of lawyers declared themselves very satisfied.

One of the more striking differences, Smith notes, is between police and firefighters – two professions that on the surface may seem similar. While 80 percent of firefighters declared themselves very satisfied, just 59 percent of police did.

The difference, he suggests, might have to do with the people each interact with and the kind of feedback they get. "Firefighters get a much more positive response, and they're not dealing with the kinds of problems that police officers deal with – the worst of society."

Those professions at the very bottom were generally what Smith expected – waiters, laborers, cashiers, and other menial jobs with low pay and few skills required. The very least satisfied workers: roofers.

This isn't the first time research has shown clergy to have a high level of satisfaction.

When Jackson Carroll, an emeritus professor of religion and society at Duke, looked into the issue several years ago, he says he expected to find low morale and dissatisfaction, given the media and attention to ministers' complaints. Instead, clergy in a variety of denominations said they were happy, despite some frustrations with isolation and the difficulty in separating their personal and public lives.

"Despite some of the problems of recent years they face and some they create themselves, clergy are still respected and admired members of the community," says Dr. Carroll. "That gives a degree of satisfaction not only from their own sense of calling, but from the fact that congregations and others in the community they live in accord them respect."

 

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