PHOENIX, July 8 (UPI) -- Job satisfaction among U.S. workers varies based on location, education level, age and the size of one's employer, a national survey found.
Results of a survey of 1,600 workers, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the University of Phoenix, show that more than half of adult workers -- 55 percent -- are considering changing careers with 24 percent considered extremely interested in a change.
Only 14 percent of respondents indicated they were in their dream career, the survey found. Arts and science, business management and technology made up the top three careers in terms of workers who considered it their dream career, the University of Phoenix said.
But many variables came into play. Seventy-eight percent of workers age 20-29 indicated they were considering a career change. That dropped to 64 percent among respondents in their 30s and 54 percent among those in their 40s.
In the next two age groups, 51 percent of respondents in their 50s and 26 percent of respondents in their 60s indicated they were considering a career change.
Location mattered, too. In San Francisco, 60 percent indicated they were not considering a career change at all. That compares with 45 percent nationwide, the survey found.
On the other side of the country, workers in New York City indicated the lowest percentage of job satisfaction with 33 percent indicating they were extremely interested in a career change, compared with 24 percent as a national average.
The survey found 52 percent of workers in companies with under 100 employees indicated they were not considering a career change. In companies with 100 to 10,000 workers, 38 percent indicated they were not interested in a career change. But that figure rose to 42 percent among employees with companies with 10,000 or more employees.
As might be expected, given the investment in time and money, those with a college degree are more likely than others to have followed the path they envisioned when they were younger.
The survey found 79 percent of respondents without a bachelor's degree who indicated they had career plans when they were young also indicated they were no longer working in that career. That dropped to 63 percent among respondents with a bachelor's degree or higher, the study found.
The Working Adult survey was conducted online between April 18-26. Harris Interactive said the survey "is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated."
