Despite the national unemployment rate remaining fixed at higher than 9 percent, 22 percent of employed workers are proactively finding new jobs within the last year, a 4 point jump from 2010, according to a new Labor Happiness Index commissioned by Snagajob.
Last year the study indicated that 34 percent of respondents who changed jobs in the previous 12 months were either laid off or fired; however, now only 22 percent of respondents report that being the case, a 12 point decline in one year. Still, of the respondents who began a new job in the last year, 44 percent say they were proactively seeking new opportunities, which is up 13 points from the 2010 survey.
"The fact that more workers are looking for – and finding – new positions proactively shows that some employers are indeed hiring aggressively and that opportunity is available for attractive candidates," says Shawn Boyer, CEO of Snagajob. "Employed Americans took advantage of increased opportunity in the last 12 months to make a move that would better their situation. This proactive movement in the job market is certainly not an immediate solace to the unemployed, but it's encouraging to see some opportunities for workers."
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Although respondents are finding new opportunities, 36 percent believe the worst is yet to come, up 4 points from last year, while 52 percent believe the economy has stabilized, but improvement has not yet happened.
Regardless, the economy is not affecting respondents' job happiness, with approximately six in 10 respondents saying they are content in their current positions, which is relatively unchanged over the past three years. The top catalysts of workplace happiness are personal job satisfaction at 27 percent, feeling fortunate to even have a job at 26 percent and the job being a good fit for the worker's lifestyle at 19 percent. Only 15 percent of respondents report their paychecks being the top factor that defines job happiness.
"One message to workers and employers is that the paycheck isn't everything," Boyer says. "While we all want to be compensated fairly for our hard work, most people won't be truly happy unless they are deriving a sense of pleasure from what they are doing and from what they are contributing to."
Although 59 percent of respondents say they are content at work, happiness may not be enough for retention. In fact, 18 percent of respondents reveal that they will search for a new job within the next year, a 4 point increase from last year.
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