Industrial production managers 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, industrial production managers rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 19% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy industrial production managers 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
Operations research analyst
2.9
$82k
Purchasing manager
2.9
$127k
Power engineer
2.8
$64k
Energy broker
2.8
$55k
Industrial production manager
2.8
$103k
Sales engineer
2.8
$104k
Civil engineer
2.8
$88k
Supply chain manager
2.8
$125k
Electronic assembler
2.8
$28k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are industrial production managers happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do industrial production managers find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as industrial production managers?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are industrial production manager’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are industrial production managers making the best use of their abilities?

Are industrial production managers happy with their salary?

Industrial production managers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most industrial production managers having generally positive views of their salary.

We asked industrial production managers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

243 industrial production managers

5 Star
13%

13% of industrial production managers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
34%

34% of industrial production managers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
29%

29% of industrial production managers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
17%

17% of industrial production managers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of industrial production managers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do industrial production managers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, industrial production managers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.6/5. The majority of industrial production managers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.

We asked industrial production managers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

2.6 out of 5 stars

244 industrial production managers

5 Star
9%

9% of industrial production managers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
16%

16% of industrial production managers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of industrial production managers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
25%

25% of industrial production managers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
27%

27% of industrial production managers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as industrial production managers?

Industrial production managers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of industrial production managers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked industrial production managers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.8 out of 5 stars

266 industrial production managers

5 Star
24%

24% of industrial production managers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
42%

42% of industrial production managers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of industrial production managers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
10%

10% of industrial production managers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
3%

3% of industrial production managers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is an industrial production manager’s work environment?

As a whole, industrial production managers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

We asked industrial production managers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

264 industrial production managers

5 Star
16%

16% of industrial production managers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of industrial production managers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
28%

28% of industrial production managers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of industrial production managers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
9%

9% of industrial production managers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are industrial production managers making the best use of their abilities?

Former industrial production managers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.0/5. Most industrial production managers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

We asked industrial production managers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.0 out of 5 stars

266 industrial production managers

5 Star
11%

11% of industrial production managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of industrial production managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
28%

28% of industrial production managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
22%

22% of industrial production managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of industrial production managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars