Does your job make it on the Most Satisfied Job list?

Is your job on the list of most satisfied jobs? I love my job and find that it's something that I love to wake up to each morning, which is really the best way to see if it's the right job you're doing. There are lots of more worthy jobs though, jobs where people serve others, jobs that score very high on the self-satisfied list. According to Tom Smith, the director of the General Social Survey (GSS) at the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Centre, satisfying jobs are the ones which involve "caring for, teaching and protecting others and creative pursuits". So, my job doesn't make it to the list!

The 2006 General Social Survey is based on interviews with randomly selected people who collectively represent a cross section of Americans. In the current study, interviewers asked more than 27,000 people questions about job satisfaction and general happiness. Individuals' level of contentment affects their overall sense of happiness, Smith said. Across all occupations, on average 47 percent of those surveyed said they were satisfied with their jobs and 33 percent reported being very happy.

The Top 10 most gratifying jobs and the percentage of subjects who said they were very satisfied with the job:

* Clergy—87 percent percent
* Firefighters—80 percent percent
* Physical therapists—78 percent percent
* Authors—74 percent
* Special education teachers—70 percent
* Teachers—69 percent
* Education administrators—68 percent
* Painters and sculptors—67 percent
* Psychologists—67 percent
* Security and financial services salespersons—65 percent
* Operating engineers—64 percent
* Office supervisors—61 percent