Legislators rate their happiness above average.
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, legislators rate their career happiness 3.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 29% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy legislators 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Judge | 4.0 | $152k |
| Legislator | 3.5 | $40k |
| Arbitrator | 3.5 | $49k |
| Hearing officer | 3.5 | $108k |
| Lobbyist | 3.4 | $50k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are legislators happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do legislators find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as legislators?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are legislator’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are legislators making the best use of their abilities?
Are legislators happy with their salary?
Legislators rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Legislators tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked legislators how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
71 legislators
18% of legislators rated their compensation 5 stars
17% of legislators rated their compensation 4 stars
24% of legislators rated their compensation 3 stars
21% of legislators rated their compensation 2 stars
20% of legislators rated their compensation 1 stars
Do legislators find their jobs meaningful?
On average, legislators rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.6/5. Unlike many careers, legislators have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become legislators.
We asked legislators how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
72 legislators
36% of legislators rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
19% of legislators rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of legislators rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
7% of legislators rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
14% of legislators rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as legislators?
Legislators rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of legislators find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked legislators how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
77 legislators
36% of legislators rated their career fit 5 stars
39% of legislators rated their career fit 4 stars
13% of legislators rated their career fit 3 stars
6% of legislators rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of legislators rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a legislator’s work environment?
As a whole, legislators rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of legislators enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a legislator.
We asked legislators how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
77 legislators
26% of legislators rated their work environment 5 stars
38% of legislators rated their work environment 4 stars
22% of legislators rated their work environment 3 stars
6% of legislators rated their work environment 2 stars
8% of legislators rated their work environment 1 stars
Are legislators making the best use of their abilities?
Former legislators on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.4/5. Most legislators surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a legislator, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked legislators how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
77 legislators
29% of legislators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
25% of legislators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
19% of legislators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
13% of legislators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
14% of legislators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars