Customs brokers are one of the least happy careers in the United States.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, customs brokers rate their career happiness 2.6 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 7% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy customs brokers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Tax preparer | 2.7 | $43k |
| Delivery service driver | 2.6 | $15k |
| Credit counselor | 2.6 | $6k |
| Traffic technician | 2.6 | $47k |
| Credit analyst | 2.6 | $67k |
| Customs broker | 2.6 | $67k |
| Accountant | 2.6 | $56k |
| Actuary | 2.5 | $121k |
| Financial clerk | 2.5 | $39k |
| Loan officer | 2.5 | $62k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are customs brokers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do customs brokers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as customs brokers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are customs broker’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are customs brokers making the best use of their abilities?
Are customs brokers happy with their salary?
Customs brokers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.7/5. Customs brokers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked customs brokers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
65 customs brokers
14% of customs brokers rated their compensation 5 stars
17% of customs brokers rated their compensation 4 stars
22% of customs brokers rated their compensation 3 stars
23% of customs brokers rated their compensation 2 stars
25% of customs brokers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do customs brokers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, customs brokers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.5/5. The majority of customs brokers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked customs brokers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
65 customs brokers
15% of customs brokers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
9% of customs brokers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
22% of customs brokers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
20% of customs brokers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
34% of customs brokers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as customs brokers?
Customs brokers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.4/5. The majority of customs brokers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked customs brokers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
70 customs brokers
29% of customs brokers rated their career fit 5 stars
29% of customs brokers rated their career fit 4 stars
17% of customs brokers rated their career fit 3 stars
10% of customs brokers rated their career fit 2 stars
16% of customs brokers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a customs broker’s work environment?
As a whole, customs brokers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.2/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked customs brokers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
71 customs brokers
25% of customs brokers rated their work environment 5 stars
23% of customs brokers rated their work environment 4 stars
17% of customs brokers rated their work environment 3 stars
17% of customs brokers rated their work environment 2 stars
18% of customs brokers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are customs brokers making the best use of their abilities?
Former customs brokers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.8/5. Customs brokers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked customs brokers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
69 customs brokers
17% of customs brokers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
17% of customs brokers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
17% of customs brokers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
23% of customs brokers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
25% of customs brokers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars