Social workers 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, social workers rate their career happiness 2.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 23% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy social 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mental health counselor | 3.1 | $48k |
| Rehabilitation counselor | 3.0 | $41k |
| School psychologist | 3.0 | $80k |
| Psychiatric aide | 2.9 | $29k |
| Probation officer | 2.9 | $39k |
| Social worker | 2.9 | $43k |
| Psychiatric technician | 2.8 | $23k |
| Family social worker | 2.8 | $28k |
| Medical administrative assistant | 2.8 | $19k |
| Healthcare social worker | 2.8 | $47k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are social workers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do social workers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as social workers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are social worker’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are social workers making the best use of their abilities?
Are social workers happy with their salary?
Social workers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.5/5. Most social workers do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.
We asked social workers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
2559 social workers
8% of social workers rated their compensation 5 stars
16% of social workers rated their compensation 4 stars
25% of social workers rated their compensation 3 stars
26% of social workers rated their compensation 2 stars
26% of social workers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do social workers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, social workers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.4/5. Unlike many careers, social workers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become social workers.
We asked social workers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
2581 social workers
24% of social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
30% of social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
23% of social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
14% of social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
9% of social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as social workers?
Social workers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of social workers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked social workers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
2790 social workers
30% of social workers rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of social workers rated their career fit 4 stars
21% of social workers rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of social workers rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of social workers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a social worker’s work environment?
As a whole, social 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 social workers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
2780 social workers
16% of social workers rated their work environment 5 stars
32% of social workers rated their work environment 4 stars
27% of social workers rated their work environment 3 stars
16% of social workers rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of social workers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are social workers making the best use of their abilities?
Former social workers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most social workers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked social workers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
2781 social workers
16% of social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
27% of social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
22% of social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
10% of social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars