August 31, 2015
There's nothing like a stultifying 9 to 5 job to make you existentially ponder the futility of life. In contrast, a fulfilling job can make you feel great every day about making a difference.
PayScale's 2015 Most and Least Meaningful Jobs Report looked at which workers say that their jobs make the world a better place – and which workers admit that their jobs actually make the world a WORSE place.
The most meaningful jobs are those that come with a higher calling: 98 percent of clergy members say their job makes the world a better place.
Military, social service and education/training/library jobs also placed high on the list, while food service, sales and arts/entertainment/media ranked at the bottom.
Fast food workers evidently feel guilty about clogging the arteries of America, because a quarter (pounder) of them said their job makes the world worse.
In fact, this whole report makes food service seem like a pretty terrible gig. It ranked as the bottom category in both pay ($23,100 median income) and meaningfulness (36 percent say their job makes the world better).
The other workers who were most likely to say "my job makes the world worse" include warehouse pickers, game supervisors at casinos, merchandise, paralegals, valets, garbage truck drivers and financial sales consultants.
You can look up your job and see how it ranks on both meaningfulness and pay here.
