A lot of people working in the information sector feel good about their finances, while those in warehousing are struggling.
That’s according to a new report from Jobs for the Future, the Families & Workers Fund, the W.E. Upjohn Institute, and Gallup that showed how thousands of US adults feel about the quality of their jobs.
The researchers defined job quality using five measures: financial well-being, workplace culture and safety, growth and development opportunities, agency and voice, and work structure and autonomy.
Over 18,000 workers were surveyed in January and February, when inflation was elevated, the rate of job quits was low, and wage growth was stronger.
Financial security varies among Americans across different industries, but no field had a majority of people feeling like they were living comfortably. In each sector, a plurality said they were doing OK.
The sectors with the highest share of workers who felt they were living comfortably included typically white-collar industries like information, professional and business services, and financial services. Meanwhile, blue-collar jobs like warehousing, retail trade, and leisure and hospitality saw a much larger share of people either just getting by or finding it difficult to get by.
“When employees feel financially secure, they are healthier, more engaged and more productive — benefits that ripple across organizations and the broader economy,” the report said.
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Molly Blankenship, a director at Jobs for the Future, told Business Insider that how much someone earns doesn’t completely capture their ability to manage financially. That’s why she thinks understanding worker sentiment is important, as well as identifying other factors, such as the number of hours someone is scheduled to work.
“There’s, I think, some quick assumptions that we can take from that chart around what those industries are composed of and what sort of jobs, but there are also these other factors like unstable scheduling that really make the difference between whether or not you can cover a bill from one day to the next,” Blankenship said.
The survey found 62% of employees had unstable or unpredictable schedules.
Based on all five dimensions in the study, 40% of the US workforce are in quality jobs, and over half of those people rated their life and job satisfaction highly.
Are you in a job where you’re living paycheck to paycheck? Reach out to this reporter to share your story at [email protected].
