Most Americans say they believe their job is meaningful to society, a new survey found.
According to the survey, released last week by YouGov, 62 percent of adult U.S. workers with full- or part-time jobs say they are meaningful.
Just 20 percent of Americans say their jobs are not making meaningful contributions to the world, which is less than a 2015 study in the United Kingdom, where 37 percent said their jobs were meaningless.
Women, by two percentage points, are more likely to say their jobs are making more of a contribution to the world, and full-time workers are more likely than part-time workers.
The survey found that people with more education are more likely to say they make a meaningful contribution, though all educational attainments rank above 50 percent.
YouGov noted that there’s recent debate about so-called “email jobs” that tend to focus on sending emails or attending emails instead of a position that directly provides a product or service.
Fifty-three percent of Americans whose jobs don’t entail emails or meetings say their jobs are meaningful, while 64 percent whose jobs are half sending emails or attending meetings say their jobs are meaningful to the world.
The survey noted that men, workers under 40 and those with college degrees are more likely to report they have an email-focused job.
Forty-three percent of respondents say all U.S. jobs make a meaningful contribution to the world.
While women and conservatives are more likely to say all jobs are meaningful, those who view their jobs as meaningless tend to say many other U.S. jobs do not make meaningful contributions, the survey found.
Americans who say their jobs are meaningful are more likely to say they don’t think they would have a difficult time finding a replacement job with equivalent pay.
The survey was conducted among 1,122 adults from April 8-10 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.