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- In the survey of 1,680 US workers, 62.3% said they were satisfied in their jobs last year.
- Employees who were the happiest job-hopped during the pandemic or were working in hybrid-remote roles.
- The survey doesn't account for new employee concerns, including the recent wave of company layoffs.
Last year, employees reported their highest rates of job satisfaction since 1987, per data from Conference Board reported by the Wall Street Journal. Employees who were the happiest had either job-hopped during the pandemic or were working in hybrid-remote environments.
In the survey of 1,680 US workers, 62.3% said they were satisfied in their jobs last year. In 2021, Conference Board found that 60.2% of workers reported feeling satisfied in their jobs — another jump from the 56.8% of workers who reported feeling satisfied in their jobs in 2020.
While conversations about the workplace have been rife with concerns of employee disengagement and "quiet quitting," the study's findings show that a good percentage of employees are feeling happy where they are at. Adding to these employees' happiness, those who job-hopped this past year may have been rewarded with significant wage increases.
Gen Z workers are also playing a role in de-stigmatizing job-hopping. This group has been jumping from jobs to secure flexible work schedules and land roles that prioritize work-life balance, Insider reported. Even among Gen Z workers who said they were "loyal" to their employers, 70% of them also said they were actively or passively seeking a new job, according to a study by Oliver Wyman.
Since the survey was conducted in November, changes have shaken up many companies. Layoffs have rippled across industries and some workplaces have announced return-to-office mandates. With these events top of mind for many workers, economic concerns and worries about job security could sway job satisfaction this year.
That's what happened following the 2007 to 2009 recession, data from Conference Board found. Job satisfaction plunged to 42.6% in 2010, a stark response to the recession.
Recession fears have been cropping up this year, but economists previously told Insider in January that we aren't in a recession yet. By the end of December 2022, the unemployment rate was still low, and US job openings were still high.
"I think if you look at all the data from the labor market, it does not suggest that we are currently in an economic downturn," Nick Bunker, economic research director at Indeed Hiring Lab, told Insider in 2022. "That, of course, could change."