Sailors are below average when it comes to happiness.
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, sailors rate their career happiness 2.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 26% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy sailors 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Armored assault vehicle crew member | 3.0 | $35k |
| Infantry soldier | 3.0 | $31k |
| Aircraft mechanic | 3.0 | $45k |
| Rotary drill operator | 2.9 | $63k |
| Boilermaker | 2.9 | $70k |
| Sailor | 2.9 | $42k |
| Ironworker | 2.9 | $44k |
| Quarry rock splitter | 2.9 | $47k |
| Command and control center specialist | 2.9 | $37k |
| Artillery crew member | 2.8 | $35k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are sailors happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do sailors find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as sailors?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are sailor’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are sailors making the best use of their abilities?
Are sailors happy with their salary?
Sailors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most sailors having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked sailors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
436 sailors
15% of sailors rated their compensation 5 stars
26% of sailors rated their compensation 4 stars
22% of sailors rated their compensation 3 stars
18% of sailors rated their compensation 2 stars
19% of sailors rated their compensation 1 stars
Do sailors find their jobs meaningful?
On average, sailors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.9/5. While most sailors aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked sailors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
437 sailors
18% of sailors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
19% of sailors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of sailors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
20% of sailors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
20% of sailors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as sailors?
Sailors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of sailors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked sailors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
462 sailors
30% of sailors rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of sailors rated their career fit 4 stars
19% of sailors rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of sailors rated their career fit 2 stars
7% of sailors rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a sailor’s work environment?
As a whole, sailors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of sailors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a sailor.
We asked sailors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
465 sailors
24% of sailors rated their work environment 5 stars
26% of sailors rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of sailors rated their work environment 3 stars
16% of sailors rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of sailors rated their work environment 1 stars
Are sailors making the best use of their abilities?
Former sailors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.9/5. Sailors tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked sailors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
466 sailors
13% of sailors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
21% of sailors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
24% of sailors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
24% of sailors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
18% of sailors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars