Top 5 Unhappiest Cities for Jobs
The online career community, CareerBliss, just released its new rankings of the happiest and unhappiest cities for jobs, and while some of country’s most well known regions fared well, other urban areas throughout the U.S. showed up with disappointing numbers. CareerBliss’ methodology evaluates worker satisfaction in regard to the various factors of work happiness, including growth opportunities, work environment, and compensation. These survey points were ranked on a five point scale, with five being the highest possible score. With data compiled over the year from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011, here’s how America’s urban centers ranked for career unhappiness.
Although it is home to top educational institution Yale University, the Northeastern port city of New Haven, Connecticut nabbed the unenviable top spot, scoring 3.465 on the survey index. In comparison, happiest category winner Miami totaled 4.140 on the index. Despite earning a high average salary, area workers with disappointed with professional growth opportunities in the area, perhaps due to New Haven’s status as a former manufacturing town.
Another northeastern urban cluster solidified the unhappiest category. With an index score of 3.669, Dayton, Ohio may have improved upon New Haven’s ranking, but employees were also dissatisfied with growth opportunities and financial compensation. Bringing in an average salary of $58,160, Dayton’s employees earn more than colleagues in the top three happiest cities of Miami, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma City, but the city still scored low on employee perceptions of their earnings.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin may be forever remembered as the backdrop for Laverne and Shirley, but this industrial town capped the top three locations for job unhappiness. Not only did the city place high for dissatisfaction on CareerBliss’ rankings, but it also ranked in Businessweek’s list of the Top 20 Unhappiest Cities in 2009. Thanks to an abundance of cloudy days and high suicide, divorce, and crime rates, this Middle America locale fails across several measures of the happiness scale. Coming in with an index score of 3.687, Milwaukee also disappoints with its low average salary of $52, 425.
In fourth place is Tulsa, Oklahoma: scoring only 3.690 on the index, Tulsa marked a stark contrast to nearby Oklahoma City, a happiness winner with an overall score of 4.105. While salaries are similar in both cities, Tulsa’s slightly higher earnings couldn’t shake its negative reputation. Rounding out the top five unhappiest cities for jobs is Albuquerque, New Mexico, scoring 3.696 on the index and an average salary of $60,598.
CareerBliss’ testers found that the most influential factor for determining job happiness was growth opportunities, rather than a city’s culture or attractions. While cities with industries focused on more modern fields like healthcare and hospitality placed high for satisfaction, regions with transitioning or manufacturing-based economies tended to score lower. All five unhappiest cities were cited by employees as having low growth opportunities, while the happiest cities were seen as having positive growth and positive company cultures. Interestingly, work happiness doesn’t seem to correlate perfectly with overall happiness, as career winners like Miami and Washington, D.C. topped out Men’s Health evaluation of the saddest cities in America.
