Despite shouldering record amounts of student debt and being less likely to own a home as older people were at the same age, millennials and Generation Z workers report slightly more satisfaction with pay than their parents' generation.

A survey of 2,000 employees by Conference Board, a business research group, finds that 46 percent of workers under 35 were happy with their compensation in 2018, up from 36 percent just a year earlier.

The highest rate of satisfaction (48 percent) came from employees age 35 to 54, most of whom would be described as Generation X. Slightly less likely to be happy are workers over 55, a group that consists almost entirely of baby boomers, 44 percent of whom are satisfied with their pay.

In 2018 median weekly wages rose 5 percent overall. For young workers, they increased 7.6 percent.

This is the first year when young workers have reported higher wage satisfaction than older employees. In the previous seven years of data from the Conference Board, those under 35 were often significantly less likely to be happy with their earnings.

In 2011, for instance, only 29 percent of young workers were satisfied, compared to 35 percent of those over 55 and 41 percent of those between 35-54.

The fact that most workers don't report happiness with compensation doesn't necessarily mean most American employees are miserable. There's more to a job than money, after all. In fact, the job satisfaction rate –– 53.7 percent –– is the highest it's been since the Conference Board began conducting research in 2003.

Job satisfaction plunged after the 2008 recession, hitting a low of 42.6 percent in 2010. It has gradually increased since then.

Part of the rise in overall job satisfaction may be due to the increased sense of job security. Over 59.2 percent reported satisfaction with the security of their employment in 2018, up from 53.8 percent the previous year.

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Instant Insights /

Job satisfaction, wage satisfaction on the rise

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