Employed adults spend the majority of their waking hours at work. But does the type of work they do play a role in their well-being—even after you account for factors like how much money they make and other demographics that might shape their lives?
A study published in Preventive Medicine Reports—based on data drawn from Gallup surveys of more than 50,000 employed adults in the U.S. in 2014—suggests the answer is “yes.”
The authors’ analysis reveals that overall well-being, as well as its five distinct dimensions, does vary by job category among U.S. workers, Gallup reports. But more than that, they found these associations persist even after they adjust for variables that can also affect well-being.
Across all 11 job categories, overall well-being was higher among business owners, professionals, managers, and farming/fishing workers and lower among clerical/office, service, manufacturing/production and transportation workers.
No one job category was dominantly high or low in every single dimension of well-being, but business owners reported the highest well-being across most measures, except for financial. Physical well-being showed the smallest gaps across income groups within job categories. Read the full report.
