Underemployed And Job Satisfaction

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Underemployed: The War On Job Satisfaction by Payscale

Job Satisfaction – Overview:

PayScale provides to you the percentage of underemployed workers, along with the reason for their underemployment, broken down by:

  • Overall
  • Educational level
  • Gender
  • Degree level + Major combination

In addition, the top 10 skills and top 30 job titles that are most relatively common among underemployed workers are listed.

Underemployed Overall

% Underemployed %Underemployed Reason: Not Using EducationTraining %Underemployed Reason: Part-Time Seeking Full-Time
Overall 46% 76% 24%

For underemployment reason, workers were further prompted, “Tell us more about your employment situation.” Response choices were between:

  • “I am not working in a job that uses my education or training.”
  • “I am working part-time but want full-time work.”
  • We collected data from 962,956 workers between 3/21/2014 and 3/21/2016 to create this report.

Job Satisfaction – Underemployed By Education Level

Underemployed: The War On Job Satisfaction – Highlights:

  • Overall, 46% of survey respondents consider themselves underemployed. Of these respondents, 76% say they are not using their education/training while 24% say they are working only part-time but would like full-time work.
  • There is a general trend where those at lower educational levels are more likely to be underemployed than those at higher educational levels.
  • Doctors of Medicine (MD) degree holders (30%) have the lowest percentage of underemployment, followed by Doctorate (Ph.D.) holders (34%).
  • Workers with some college coursework but no degree (57%) have the highest percentage of underemployment, followed by GED holders and high school graduates (52%).
  • Interestingly, the percentage of underemployment is higher for workers with some college coursework but no college degree (57%) than for workers with only a GED or high school diploma (52%).
  • 90% of underemployed MBA degree holders reported they are not using their education and training.
  • Females (49%) are more likely to be underemployed than males (43%). Among underemployed females, the majority (73%) are not using their education/training.
  • The most relatively common jobs among underemployed workers are system support technician (2.30), front end supervisor (2.03), and dog groomer and bather (1.96). There are many service jobs on this list.
  • The top three job titles of workers who are most often working part-time but are seeking full-time work are: 1. System Support Technician; 2. Front End Supervisor; 3. Dog Groomer and Bather.
  • The Degree Level/Major of workers who most commonly report being underemployed are: Physical Education Teaching/Bachelor (% Underemployed: 56.4%), Human Services/Bachelor (55.6%), Illustration/Bachelor (54.7%), Criminal Justice/Bachelor (53%), Project Management/Bachelor (52.8%)

Underemployed by Degree + Major

Rank Degree Level Major % Underemployed %Underemployed Reason: Not Using EducationTraining %Underemployed Reason: Part-Time Seeking Full-Time
1 Bachelor Physical Education Teaching 56.4% 79.1% 20.9%
2 Bachelor Human Services (HS) 55.6% 82.2% 17.8%
3 Bachelor Illustration 54.7% 74.5% 25.5%
4 Bachelor Criminal Justice 53.0% 87.4% 12.8%
5 Bachelor Project Management 52.8% 91.5% 8.5%
6 Bachelor Radio/Television & Film Production 52.6% 68.4% 31.6%
7 Bachelor Studio Art 52.0% 69.0% 32.2%
8 Bachelor Health Care Administration 51.8% 83.3% 16.7%
8 Bachelor Education 51.8% 77.7% 22.3%
10 Bachelor Human Development & Family Studies 51.5% 75.0% 25.0%
11 Bachelor Creative Writing 51.1% 76.2% 23.8%
11 Bachelor Animal Science 51.1% 83.7% 16.3%
13 Bachelor Exercise Science 51.0% 65.6% 34.4%
14 Bachelor Health Sciences 50.9% 77.1% 22.9%
14 Bachelor Paralegal Studies 50.9% 86.7% 13.3%
16 Bachelor Theatre 50.8% 72.9% 27.1%
17 Bachelor Art History 50.7% 77.4% 22.6%
1 Master Criminal Justice 54.3% 89.2% 10.8%
2 Master Master of Human Services (MHS) 51.6% 80.0% 20.0%
3 Master Public Administration 49.1% 87.1% 12.9%
4 Master Business Management 48.6% 92.3% 7.7%
5 Master Mental Health Counseling 48.0% 66.9% 33.1%
6 Master Organizational Leadership 47.2% 93.6% 6.4%
7 Master Theology 47.2% 59.3% 40.7%
7 Master History 47.1% 79.2% 20.8%
9 Master Education 47.0% 76.0% 24.0%
10 Master Human Resources Management (HRM) 46.9% 85.3% 14.7%
11 Master Project Management 46.8% 90.2% 9.8%
12 Master Counseling 46.4% 70.6% 29.4%
13 Master International Relations 45.7% 91.0% 10.1%
14 Master Master of Fine Arts (MFA) 45.6% 58.3% 42.4%
15 Master Psychology 45.3% 80.2% 19.8%
1 MBA Global Business Management 50.3% 90.0% 10.0%
2 MBA Human Resources Management (HRM) 49.2% 87.6% 12.4%
3 MBA Leadership 49.0% 90.1% 9.9%
4 MBA Business Management 45.3% 89.9% 10.3%
5 MBA Project Management 45.2% 88.3% 11.7%
6 MBA International Business 44.4% 91.4% 8.6%
7 MBA Operations Management (OM) 42.4% 90.9% 9.1%
8 MBA Health Care Administration 42.1% 95.0% 5.8%
9 MBA General Business 41.5% 90.3% 9.7%
10 MBA Marketing 41.4% 83.9% 16.1%
11 MBA Master of Business Administration (MBA) 41.3% 89.9% 10.2%
12 MBA Accounting 41.0% 88.6% 11.4%
13 MBA Management Information Systems (MIS) 40.6% 84.6% 15.4%
14 MBA Supply Chain Management 39.9% 95.4% 6.2%
15 MBA Entrepreneurship 36.5% 88.2% 11.8%
1 PhD Computer Science (CS) 31.3% 75.6% 24.4%
2 PhD Clinical Psychology 31.4% 56.1% 43.9%
3 PhD Mechanical Engineering (ME) 34.2% 87.5% 12.5%
4 PhD Doctor of Education (EdD) 42.8% 69.8% 30.2%

 

Job Satisfaction – Underemployed By Gender

Underemployed By Gender Job Satisfaction

Job Satisfaction – Definitions:

Relative Commonness (For Underemployed): This is the relative commonness for underemployed workers compared to all U.S. workers. For example, the relative commonness for filing skills among the underemployed is 1.59, therefore, it is 1.59 times more likely for an underemployed worker to have filing skills than the average U.S. worker.

% Underemployed: This is the percentage of respondents who answered “Yes” to the question “Do you consider yourself underemployed?”  or answered “I’m not sure” and did not answer “I am happily employed” when further prompted “Tell us more about your employment situation.”

% Underemployed Reason: Not Using EducationTraining: This is the percentage of respondents who answered “I am not working in a job that uses my education or training” when asked to “Tell us more about your employment situation.” This only applies to those who respond “Yes” or “I’m not sure” to the question “Do you consider yourself underemployed?”

% Underemployed Reason: Part-Time Seeking Full-Time: This is the percentage of respondents who answered “I am working part-time but want full-time work” when asked to “Tell us more about your employment situation.” This only applies to those who respond “Yes” or “I’m not sure” to the question “Do you consider yourself underemployed?”

Underemployed – Most Common Job

Rank Job Title Relative Commonness
1 System Support Technician 2.30
2 Front End Supervisor 2.03
3 Dog Groomer and Bather 1.96
4 Assistant Warehouse Manager 1.94
5 Yard Foreman 1.93
6 Restaurant Supervisor 1.90
7 Office Assistant/Database Administrator 1.89
8 Program Assistant, Non-Profit Organization 1.88
9 Assistant Restaurant Manager – Casual Dining 1.87
10 Shipping Manager 1.84
11 Assistant Office Manager 1.82
12 Hotel, Motel, or Resort Desk Clerk 1.80
13 Cafe Manager 1.78
14 Systems Technician (Computer) 1.76
14 Membership Coordinator 1.76
14 Dog Kennel Manager 1.76
17 Project Specialist 1.75
17 Senior Personal Banker 1.75
19 Bilingual Customer Service Representative 1.74
20 Meat Wrapper 1.73
20 Food Service Supervisor 1.73
22 Customer Support Specialist 1.71
23 Sales & Marketing Assistant 1.70
23 Embroiderer 1.70
25 Head Housekeeper 1.69
25 Financial Advisor Assistant 1.69
25 Construction Administrator 1.69
25 Technical Support Representative 1.69
29 Warehouse Team Leader 1.68
29 Dietary Supervisor 1.68

Job Satisfaction – About PayScale:

PayScale powers compensation solutions in the cloud to provide immediate visibility into the right pay for any position. Creator of the world’s largest database of rich salary profiles, PayScale offers modern compensation software and real-time, data driven insights for employees and employers alike. More than 5,000 customers, from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, use PayScale Benchmark™, PayScale Insight™ and MarketPay. These include Bloomberg BNA, Cummins, Intercom, Time Warner, Clemson University and Signature HealthCARE. For more information, please visit: www.payscale.com or follow PayScale on Twitter: http://twitter.com/payscale

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