With unemployment at multiyear lows, it is unfortunate to see that a recent study shows only 46.9% of people are satisfied with their jobs.

One of America’s leading business research firms found:

According to the current edition of The Conference Board Job Satisfaction survey, nearly half of US workers (49.6 percent) are satisfied with their jobs. After improving incrementally since the postrecession recovery period, overall job satisfaction is at its highest since 2005. The rapidly declining unemployment rate, combined with increased hiring, job openings, and quits, signals a seller’s market, where the employer demand for workers is growing faster than the available supply.

The fact that the number was worse for over a decade is extraordinary, even given the effects of the recession, and it is depressing.

One reason for the low number may be that median household income has dropped for a decade, based on current dollars. Many experts have pointed out that the middle class has shrunk for years and that it has been harder to get ahead financially. There is evidence that millennials may be the first generation in decades to make less money than their parents.

Since half the jobs in the United States are held by women, and they are paid only about 79% of men on average, the level of satisfaction among this group must be naturally low. Same work for less money.

Finally, there is the issue of jobs lost in the recession replaced by lower paying jobs that have been part of the recovery. Part of this is also the cycle from high-paid manufacturing jobs to lowered paid service ones.

It is a wonder the 49.6% is not lower. Ironically, if the employment market continues to improve, job satisfaction may worsen.

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