Machinists 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, machinists rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 11% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy machinists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sheet metal worker | 2.7 | $37k |
| Meter reader | 2.7 | $44k |
| Brickmason | 2.7 | $28k |
| Tool and die maker | 2.7 | $37k |
| Mining machine operator | 2.7 | $62k |
| Machinist | 2.7 | $28k |
| Truck driver | 2.7 | $49k |
| Construction worker | 2.7 | $12k |
| Cargo and freight agent | 2.7 | $48k |
| Hazardous materials removal worker | 2.6 | $36k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are machinists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do machinists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as machinists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are machinist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are machinists making the best use of their abilities?
Are machinists happy with their salary?
Machinists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most machinists having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked machinists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
577 machinists
11% of machinists rated their compensation 5 stars
24% of machinists rated their compensation 4 stars
31% of machinists rated their compensation 3 stars
23% of machinists rated their compensation 2 stars
12% of machinists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do machinists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, machinists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.3/5. The majority of machinists struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked machinists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
578 machinists
7% of machinists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
11% of machinists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
25% of machinists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
24% of machinists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
34% of machinists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as machinists?
Machinists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.5/5. The majority of machinists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked machinists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
625 machinists
20% of machinists rated their career fit 5 stars
34% of machinists rated their career fit 4 stars
24% of machinists rated their career fit 3 stars
14% of machinists rated their career fit 2 stars
7% of machinists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a machinist’s work environment?
As a whole, machinists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.1/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked machinists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
625 machinists
13% of machinists rated their work environment 5 stars
29% of machinists rated their work environment 4 stars
24% of machinists rated their work environment 3 stars
22% of machinists rated their work environment 2 stars
12% of machinists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are machinists making the best use of their abilities?
Former machinists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.7/5. Machinists tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked machinists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
626 machinists
14% of machinists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
14% of machinists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
25% of machinists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
27% of machinists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
20% of machinists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars