Midwives 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, midwives rate their career happiness 3.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 21% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy midwives 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nurse anesthetist | 3.8 | $213k |
| Acupuncturist | 3.7 | $74k |
| Midwife | 3.7 | $64k |
| Naturopathic physician | 3.5 | $74k |
| Massage therapist | 3.4 | $31k |
| Nurse educator | 3.4 | $84k |
| Surgical assistant | 3.4 | $11k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are midwives happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do midwives find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as midwives?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are midwife’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are midwives making the best use of their abilities?
Are midwives happy with their salary?
Midwives rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.2/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most midwives having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked midwives how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
97 midwives
25% of midwives rated their compensation 5 stars
15% of midwives rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of midwives rated their compensation 3 stars
14% of midwives rated their compensation 2 stars
18% of midwives rated their compensation 1 stars
Do midwives find their jobs meaningful?
On average, midwives rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.0/5. Unlike many careers, midwives have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become midwives.
We asked midwives how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
97 midwives
46% of midwives rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
27% of midwives rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
16% of midwives rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
5% of midwives rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
5% of midwives rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as midwives?
Midwives rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.1/5. The majority of midwives find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked midwives how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
104 midwives
43% of midwives rated their career fit 5 stars
32% of midwives rated their career fit 4 stars
15% of midwives rated their career fit 3 stars
7% of midwives rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of midwives rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a midwife’s work environment?
As a whole, midwives rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of midwives enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a midwife.
We asked midwives how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
104 midwives
29% of midwives rated their work environment 5 stars
26% of midwives rated their work environment 4 stars
24% of midwives rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of midwives rated their work environment 2 stars
10% of midwives rated their work environment 1 stars
Are midwives making the best use of their abilities?
Former midwives on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 4.0/5. Most midwives surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a midwife, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked midwives how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
103 midwives
42% of midwives rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
25% of midwives rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
21% of midwives rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
10% of midwives rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
2% of midwives rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars