American Workers Would Be Happier in Same Job With Higher Pay

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Most employers and economists would probably agree that a happy workforce is a more productive workforce. A recent Gallup Panel survey asked American workers if they would find increased happiness under two specific situations -- if they were in a different job and if they made more money. American workers say they would be happier if they made more money, but probably would not be happier in a different job. The average American worker estimates they would be happier if they made about $33,000 more per year. American workers residing in lower income households are more likely than those in higher income households to say they would be happier with a higher income; women also are more likely than men to feel this way.

The poll was conducted July 24-27, 2006, of a nationally representative sample of 540 members of Gallup's household panel who are employed full- or part-time.

Overall Results

It is not uncommon for people to complain about their job. But despite any frustrations they may feel at work, most workers dispute the notion that they would be happier in a different job. Only 31% said they would be while 63% said they would not. This finding is consistent with what Gallup has found in the past.

However, perhaps not surprisingly, the poll finds that the strong majority of workers, 73%, say they would be happier if they made more money, while 25% say they would not be happier.

Gallup asked Americans this question on two previous occasions many years ago. In both of these instances, more than 6 in 10 Americans -- 69% in June 1955 and 64% in January 1965 -- said they would be happier if they made more money.

The current poll also asked those who would be happier earning more per year to estimate how much more it would take to make them happy. Among all employed adults in the country, Gallup finds that an average of $32,629 would make workers happy. The median, or middle value of all responses, is at $10,000. The mean is higher because some respondents give very high values which acts to pull the mean value up.

In all, 28% of workers say they would be happier with $10,000 or less in additional pay, 17% say between $10,000 and $20,000, 14% say between $20,000 and $50,000, and 8% say more than $50,000 annually.

Among the 73% of workers who report that they would be happier with a higher income, the average amount of money it would take to make them happier is $45,078 per year, with a median value of $15,000. This includes 37% who would be happier if they made $10,000 or less per year, 23% who say between $10,000 and $20,000 per year, 19% who say between $20,000 and $50,000 per year, and 10% who say more than $50,000 per year.

Lower vs. Higher Income Households

A majority of workers at both higher and lower household income levels say they would be happier if they made more money, but workers on the lower end of the income spectrum are more likely to say this. Eighty-one percent of workers whose annual household income totals less than $50,000 say they would be happier if they made more money compared with 67% of those who earn $50,000 or more.

Workers in the two income categories do not differ statistically from one another in the amount of money it would take to make them happy. For workers earning less than $50,000 per year, an average of $40,313 per year would make them happy, and for those earning more than that, the average is $47,870. The lack of difference likely results from the fact that higher income respondents are more likely to give a value of zero; that is, they say they would not be happier if they made more money.

Workers at both of these income levels are about equally likely to say they would be happier in a different job, at 37% among the lower income group and 30% among the higher income group.

Men vs. Women

Women in the workforce are just slightly more likely than men in the workforce to say they would be happier if they earned more money each year: 70% of male workers would be happier if they made more money, compared with 77% among women.

The average amount of money that men and women report they would have to make to be happy differs significantly, with the average among men at $41,299 and among women at $21,584. The reason for this is that several more men than women in the poll say they would want to earn $1 million or more to be happy. If these extreme cases are removed, there is essentially no difference between men and women in the average amount of money it would take to make each group happy.

Men (30%) are just as likely as women (32%) to say they would be happier in a different job.

Survey Methods

Results for this panel study are based on telephone interviews with 1,001 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted July 24-27, 2006. Respondents were randomly drawn from Gallup's nationally representative household panel, which was originally recruited through random selection methods. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.

For results based on the sample of 540 adults employed full or part time, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.