Highway maintenance workers are one of the least happy careers in the United States.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, highway maintenance workers rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 18% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy highway maintenance workers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Probation officer | 2.9 | $55k |
| Social worker | 2.9 | $49k |
| Concierge | 2.8 | $28k |
| Highway maintenance worker | 2.8 | $41k |
| Family social worker | 2.8 | $42k |
| Rail transportation worker | 2.8 | $49k |
| Executive assistant | 2.8 | $48k |
| Medical secretary | 2.8 | $27k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are highway maintenance workers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do highway maintenance workers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as highway maintenance workers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are highway maintenance worker’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are highway maintenance workers making the best use of their abilities?