Are Canadians satisfied with their jobs?

Although not liking one’s job can be a fact of life for some of us, most Canadians like what they do.

Levels of job satisfaction can reflect meaningful differences in working conditions and the compatibility of the person and their job. 

In October 2023, employed Canadians aged 15 to 69 years were asked to rate their level of job satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10. Overall, 80% of respondents rated their level of satisfaction from 7 to 10, with 7.7 out of 10 being the average level of satisfaction indicated by respondents. 

As an indicator featured in Canada’s Quality of Life Framework, job satisfaction has a relationship with one’s level of life satisfaction, sense of meaning and purpose, social cohesion, mental health, financial well-being, and productivity. 

Mail distribution workers and transport drivers are among the least satisfied with their jobs

At the occupational level, average levels of satisfaction ranged from 6.9 out of 10 to 8.9 out of 10 in October 2023.

Workers in occupations related to mail distribution, road transport, and sales support were among the least satisfied with their job. This included workers in mail and message distribution occupations (6.9 out of 10 average) and transport drivers, operators and labourers (7.0 out of 10). 

Employees in sales support occupations—covering cashiers, service station attendants and similar occupations—had among the lowest average hourly wages. Workers in this group also had a relatively low level of job satisfaction (7.1 out of 10).

Nurses and allied health professionals, as well as workers in assisting occupations in support of health services (including nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates), both posted a below-average job satisfaction score (7.4 out of 10 each). Wage growth among nurses has lagged behind the national average in recent years, and nurses were particularly likely to have experienced higher levels of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Who reported the highest levels of job satisfaction?

Workers who reported some of the highest average levels of job satisfaction were those working in sports (8.9 out of 10), middle management occupations in production and agriculture (8.5 out of 10), technical equipment operation (8.5 out of 10) and legislative and senior management occupations (8.5 out of 10).

Self-employed workers with employees also reported high levels of job satisfaction. Part of the appeal of being self-employed is the opportunity to be your own boss and to choose when and how much you work. 

On average, self-employed workers (8.1 out of 10) were more likely to be satisfied with their job compared with both private sector (7.7 out of 10) and public sector (7.7 out of 10) employees. However, self-employed workers with employees—a group of workers who often operate larger, and more stable businesses—were more satisfied with their jobs on average (8.5 out of 10) than self-employed workers without employees (7.9 out of 10).

Workers experiencing household financial difficulties are less likely to be satisfied

Sometimes, it is not just working conditions and wages that matter, but also what a person wants or seeks to obtain from their job. For example, workers who were working part-time involuntarily had lower average levels of satisfaction (6.8 out of 10) in October 2023 compared with other part-time workers (7.7 out of 10).

Although employees who are paid more tend to have higher levels of job satisfaction, lower wages may be an even greater source of dissatisfaction for employees whose household finds it difficult to meet its basic financial needs. Lower wages may be of less concern to an employee living in a household where another person has high earnings. 

On average, levels of satisfaction ranged from 7.4 out of 10 among employees with weekly earnings in the bottom 10% to 8.0 out of 10 among those with earnings in the top 10%. 

By comparison, a more pronounced difference in average job satisfaction levels was observed for workers living in a household experiencing financial difficulty. In October 2023, almost 1 in 10 Canadians (9.3%) were living in a household that found it very difficult to meet their financial needs in terms of housing, transportation, food, clothing and other necessary expenses within the previous month. For employees living in a household facing such challenges, their average level of job satisfaction was 6.9 out of 10, compared with 8.1 out of 10 among those who lived in a household that found it very easy to meet its financial needs.