SURVEY: Direct-Care Workers Find Jobs More “Meaningful” Than “Satisfying”

A majority of direct-care workers say that their jobs have a high level of meaning, according to a survey conducted by PayScale, a company that compiles salary data on a range of occupations.

PayScale asked two million workers in 500 different job categories whether they found their jobs to be satisfying and meaningful.

Several direct-care jobs are represented in the survey. Three-fourths of “nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants,” for example, said that their jobs were meaningful, yet just 62 percent were satisfied in their jobs.

Among “home health aides,” more than three-fourths (78 percent) said their jobs were meaningful, compared with the 65 percent who are satisfied in their jobs.

More than four-fifths (81 percent) of “personal and home care aides” found meaning in their jobs. Just 64 percent reported being satisfied with their work.

Members of the clergy were the most likely to say their jobs had meaning, at 98 percent; they also had the highest satisfaction rate, at 90 percent.

— by Matthew Ozga