• Gen Zers are less satisfied with their jobs than other age groups, per Pew Research.
• Additionally, nearly 30% of people are not too or not at all satisfied with their wages.
• Some people are frustrated that prices are significantly higher than they used to be.

Gen Zers and people with lower incomes are less satisfied with their jobs than other Americans.

Seventeen percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 — the highest percentage of any age group surveyed — said they were not too or not at all satisfied with their jobs, per a Pew Research Center survey published on December 10. The 18- to 29-year-old cohort is predominantly Gen Z. Pew surveyed 5,273 US adults who were employed full- or part-time in October.

Additionally, 16% of respondents with lower family incomes said they are not too or not at all satisfied with their jobs, the highest percentage compared to middle- and high-income earners.

In recent years, job market challenges and rising prices have weighed on Americans, and it's affected how some of them feel about their current roles. While the unemployment rate remains low compared to historical levels, a widespread hiring slowdown has made it harder for some people to switch jobs. Additionally, while inflation has slowed, some people are frustrated that prices of goods and services are significantly higher than they used to be — and that their salaries haven't risen enough to keep up.

Meanwhile, some employed adults aren't satisfied with how much they're paid. Among the 29% of workers who said they were not too or not at all satisfied with their pay, the top reason they gave was that their wages haven't kept up with the cost of living.

To be sure, half of the Americans surveyed said they were extremely or very satisfied with their jobs while 38% reported being somewhat satisfied.

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• A Pew Research Center analysis shows the largest occupations for young US workers without degrees.
• Men often work as drivers or in construction, while women work in customer service or nursing roles.
• College enrollment rates have declined in recent years.

Customer service representatives and truck drivers are the most common jobs for young women and men without a four-year degree, respectively.

Men and women between the ages of 25 and 34 who don't have college degrees also work as construction laborers, health aides, cashiers, and chefs, per a Pew Research Center analysis published in July.

There was little overlap in the most common jobs for young men and women without a college degree, but the two groups did share two roles: first-line supervisors of sales workers and retail salespersons.

Roles like these have become particularly prevalent for men, whose college enrollment rates have fallen behind women's in recent years.

Forty-seven percent of US women between the ages of 25 and 34 have a bachelor's degree compared to 37% of men, per a Pew analysis published in November. However, overall college enrollment rates have fallen in recent years: The share of male high school graduates between the ages of 16 and 24 enrolling in college has declined to 58% as of 2023 from 67% in 2018, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Young women's enrollment rate has declined to 65% from 71% over this period.

Many of these young people are seeking jobs that don't require a college degree, and some have benefited from companies dropping degree requirements. The share of US job postings that require at least a college degree has fallen to 17.8% from 20.4% in 2019, according to an Indeed report published earlier this year. To be sure, many employers still prioritize hiring workers with a college diploma.

The Pew report published in July also highlighted the most common job categories for Americans with a four-year college degree. Four occupation categories were among the 10 most common jobs for both men and women: software developers, managers, accountants and auditors, and elementary and middle school teachers.

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