60% of workers are unhappy with key aspects of their job, survey finds

Six in 10 U.S. workers say their jobs fall short of the standards for a “quality” position — one that offers basics such as fair pay, a steady schedule and career growth — according to research from advocacy group Jobs for the Future.

Although government labor statistics track how many Americans are employed and how much they earn, the official data doesn’t offer a full picture of the state of the job market, researchers behind Jobs for the Future’s new study said.

“We recognize that not only has the way we measure the economy not kept up with way work and the economy is changing, but it has never been sufficient in terms of letting us understand what’s going on under hood of economy and across the workforce, which is the engine of economic prosperity in the U.S.,” said Molly Blankenship, a director in solutions design and delivery at Jobs for the Future, which lobbies for policies aimed at spurring innovation,

The group surveyed workers across industries and different types of jobs, in partnership with Gallup, the Families & Workers Fund and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

“We suspected when we started this work that the majority of Americans were not in jobs that were helping them,” Blankenship added. “This data confirms what we suspected, which is that the majority of American workers are not in quality jobs.”

What makes for a good job?

A quality job is defined by five main criteria, according to Jobs for the Future:

• Financial well-being, such as fair pay and stable employment
• Workplace culture and safety, meaning the worker is free from discrimination or harassment
• Growth and development opportunities, allowing employees to develop skills and advance their career
• Agency and voice, or the ability to influence decisions that impact one’s job
• Work structure and agency, including a predictable schedule and manageable workload

By those measures, only 40% of the more than 18,000 workers surveyed by the group said they are employed in quality jobs, while the remaining 60% said their jobs fall short of those standards. For example, 62% of employees said they have unpredictable work schedules, while about one-third said they are struggling financially, according to the survey. 

Only 27% of those surveyed by Jobs for the Futures said their jobs pay enough for them to feel financially comfortable; nearly 3 in 10 described themselves as “just getting by” or “finding it difficult to get by.”

Beyond fair pay, workers also want to feel safe and respected in their jobs, while opportunities for growth are also valued, the study noted. One in four employees say they have no opportunities for promotion or advancement at work, the survey found. 

Another issue affecting how employees perceive their jobs is how employers use new technologies, such as artificial intelligence. 

“There is tremendous concern over technology, how it’s being adopted and how it will impact people’s jobs in the future,” Susan Houseman, a senior economist at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and a contributor to the the report, told CBS News. “The research indicates that they lack input on these issues.” 

The degree of autonomy employees have in their jobs also shapes their daily routine and can affect their overall work-life balance, Jobs for the Future found. More than six in 10 employees said they lack control over their schedules, while more than half of workers said they often or sometimes work more than scheduled.