Substance abuse social workers 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, substance abuse social workers rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 12% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy substance abuse 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Personal care aide | 2.8 | $25k |
| Psychiatric technician | 2.8 | $23k |
| Family social worker | 2.8 | $28k |
| Healthcare social worker | 2.8 | $47k |
| Speech language pathologist | 2.7 | $52k |
| Substance abuse social worker | 2.7 | $51k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are substance abuse social workers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do substance abuse social workers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as substance abuse social workers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are substance abuse social worker’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are substance abuse social workers making the best use of their abilities?
Are substance abuse social workers happy with their salary?
Substance abuse social workers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.4/5. Most substance abuse social workers do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.
We asked substance abuse social workers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.4 out of 5 stars
59 substance abuse social workers
3% of substance abuse social workers rated their compensation 5 stars
15% of substance abuse social workers rated their compensation 4 stars
24% of substance abuse social workers rated their compensation 3 stars
37% of substance abuse social workers rated their compensation 2 stars
20% of substance abuse social workers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do substance abuse social workers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, substance abuse social workers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.3/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked substance abuse social workers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
61 substance abuse social workers
20% of substance abuse social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
30% of substance abuse social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
25% of substance abuse social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
13% of substance abuse social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
13% of substance abuse social workers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as substance abuse social workers?
Substance abuse social workers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of substance abuse social workers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked substance abuse social workers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
65 substance abuse social workers
25% of substance abuse social workers rated their career fit 5 stars
38% of substance abuse social workers rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of substance abuse social workers rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of substance abuse social workers rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of substance abuse social workers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a substance abuse social worker’s work environment?
As a whole, substance abuse social workers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.2/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked substance abuse social workers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
65 substance abuse social workers
11% of substance abuse social workers rated their work environment 5 stars
37% of substance abuse social workers rated their work environment 4 stars
26% of substance abuse social workers rated their work environment 3 stars
11% of substance abuse social workers rated their work environment 2 stars
15% of substance abuse social workers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are substance abuse social workers making the best use of their abilities?
Former substance abuse social workers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.0/5. Substance abuse social workers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked substance abuse social workers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
64 substance abuse social workers
13% of substance abuse social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
23% of substance abuse social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
27% of substance abuse social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
28% of substance abuse social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
9% of substance abuse social workers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars