As the tech sector was cutting jobs this year, manufacturing job postings went up 46%. The blue-collar job market has rebounded with opportunities and some salaries in six figures. It’s no surprise that a recent study finds that manufacturing jobs are ranked as one of the happiest jobs for workers. But what is the top happiest and the unhappiest?

Happiest Jobs For Workers In The U.S.

To uncover which industries have the most satisfied employees, a recent study by TollFreeForwarding.com reveals the happiest industries in 2024. Here’s how they came up with the ten happiest jobs for workers. They selected ten top industries in the U.S. and then identified the 20 top companies per industry. Next, they applied Glassdoor review data, which ranks each company on a scale of one to five on these six categories:

1. Culture and values
2. Diversity and inclusion
3. Work-life balance
4. Compensation
5. Career opportunities
6. Senior management

The final scores were derived by adding the 20 scores for each category together for a total possible score of 100 per category. Finally, these total scores were averaged to derive an overall score for each industry.

The Construction industry came out on top, with an average score of 72.20 out of 100. Construction workers were also the most satisfied with their compensation (73.1) and the cultures and values (74.9) in their industry.

The second most satisfied industry was Accounting and taxes (71.92), which also scored the highest in the career opportunities category (75.3). Manufacturing came in third overall (71.75) and had the highest score in the diversity and inclusion category (77.9).

The unhappiest industries were Tourism and Legal, followed by Retail and e-commerce, which scored the lowest happiness of any industry, with an average score of 60.10 out of 100. According to the authors of the study, the low scores in Tourism is because of low pay and long, inflexible hours. And retail workers are the unhappiest because of notoriously low pay, inflexible hours, poor leadership and lack of growth opportunities. Below are the top ten industries ranked from happiest to unhappiest:

1. Construction (average score 72.2). Culture & values: 74.9; Diversity & inclusion: 75.7; Work-life balance: 65.9; Compensation: 73.1; Career opportunities: 74.2; Senior management: 69.4.
2. Accounting and taxes (average score 71.92). Culture & values: 74; Diversity & inclusion: 76.3; Work-life balance: 67.7; Compensation: 68.6; Career opportunities: 75.3; Senior management: 69.4.
3. Manufacturing (average score 71.75). Culture & values: 74; Diversity & inclusion: 77.9; Work-life balance: 69; Compensation: 71.9; Career opportunities: 71.2; Senior management: 66.5.
4. Tech (average score 69.62). Culture & values: 70.3; Diversity & inclusion: 74.8; Work-life balance: 71.5; Compensation: 72.1; Career opportunities: 67.2; Senior management: 61.8.
5. Healthcare (average score 67.25). Culture & values: 68; Diversity & inclusion: 73.8; Work-life balance: 66.6; Compensation: 66.9; Career opportunities: 67.5; Senior management: 60.7.
6. Hospitality (average score 67). Culture & values: 69.8; Diversity & inclusion: 75.2; Work-life balance: 65.5; Compensation: 57.3; Career opportunities: 69.1; Senior management: 65.1.
7. Transport & logistics (average score 64.92). Culture & values: 64.8; Diversity & inclusion: 71.8; Work-life balance: 62; Compensation: 64.1; Career opportunities: 66; Senior management: 60.8.
8. Tourism (average score 61.72). Culture & values: 67.4; Diversity & inclusion: 72; Work-life balance: 63.8; Compensation: 65.6; Career opportunities: 52; Senior management: 49.5.
9. Legal (average score 60.3). Culture & values: 64.5; Diversity & inclusion: 70.1; Work-life balance: 66.8; Compensation: 65.2; Career opportunities: 39.6; Senior management: 55.6.
10. Retail & e-commerce (average score 60.1). Culture & values: 64.7; Diversity & inclusion: 72.4; Work-life balance: 38.6; Compensation: 63.1; Career opportunities: 63; Senior management: 58.8.

A Final Word On Happiest Jobs For Workers

Jason O’Brien, COO of TollFreeForwarding.com, commented on the findings of the study. “It’s clear that job satisfaction plays an important role in employee retention, and research shows that happy employees are more productive than those dissatisfied with their jobs,” he points out. “As our findings show, employee satisfaction is based on a variety of factors, from workplace culture and compensation to opportunities and management. Businesses that want to retain their employees need to focus on all these factors, as the top-ranking industries scored highly across the board.”

Science-backed research indicates that workplace satisfaction is more important than ever if companies want to retain employees. Studies show that when employers promote kindness at work, employees are happier, plus it boosts the organization’s bottom line. One recent survey finds that 77% of workers are more likely to stay with an employer if they’re satisfied with their company’s organizational culture. Identifying the happiest jobs for workers is a clear indicator of which industries are creating job satisfaction for their employees and likely to have greater productivity and profitability.