Highway maintenance workers 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, highway maintenance workers rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 18% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy highway maintenance workers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cement mason | 2.9 | $18k |
| Surveyor | 2.8 | $46k |
| Concierge | 2.8 | $14k |
| Marine electrician | 2.8 | $73k |
| Highway maintenance worker | 2.8 | $39k |
| Plumber | 2.8 | $24k |
| Pipelayer | 2.8 | $50k |
| Lawn care specialist | 2.8 | $2k |
| Rail transportation worker | 2.8 | $60k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are highway maintenance workers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do highway maintenance workers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as highway maintenance workers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are highway maintenance worker’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are highway maintenance workers making the best use of their abilities?
Are highway maintenance workers happy with their salary?
Highway maintenance workers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.1/5. Highway maintenance workers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked highway maintenance workers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
18 highway maintenance workers
11% of highway maintenance workers rated their compensation 5 stars
28% of highway maintenance workers rated their compensation 4 stars
22% of highway maintenance workers rated their compensation 3 stars
33% of highway maintenance workers rated their compensation 2 stars
6% of highway maintenance workers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do highway maintenance workers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, highway maintenance workers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.5/5. While most highway maintenance workers aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked highway maintenance workers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
18 highway maintenance workers
11% of highway maintenance workers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
6% of highway maintenance workers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
33% of highway maintenance workers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
22% of highway maintenance workers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
28% of highway maintenance workers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as highway maintenance workers?
Highway maintenance workers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of highway maintenance workers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked highway maintenance workers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
20 highway maintenance workers
30% of highway maintenance workers rated their career fit 5 stars
40% of highway maintenance workers rated their career fit 4 stars
10% of highway maintenance workers rated their career fit 3 stars
5% of highway maintenance workers rated their career fit 2 stars
15% of highway maintenance workers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a highway maintenance worker’s work environment?
As a whole, highway maintenance workers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked highway maintenance workers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
20 highway maintenance workers
30% of highway maintenance workers rated their work environment 5 stars
15% of highway maintenance workers rated their work environment 4 stars
30% of highway maintenance workers rated their work environment 3 stars
5% of highway maintenance workers rated their work environment 2 stars
20% of highway maintenance workers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are highway maintenance workers making the best use of their abilities?
Former highway maintenance workers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.8/5. Most feel that their skills are being underutilized in the career, probably leading to more general dissatisfaction with being a highway maintenance worker.
We asked highway maintenance workers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
20 highway maintenance workers
20% of highway maintenance workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
15% of highway maintenance workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
10% of highway maintenance workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
30% of highway maintenance workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
25% of highway maintenance workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars