Data reveals the salary bracket most likely to offer happiness

SALARY and job satisfaction do not always go hand-in-hand. So what can workers do to keep the career spark alive?

MONEY cannot buy happiness it seems with new research revealing top earners are not the most fulfilled.

While job satisfaction increased with salary to a point, a survey of mostly Australian tech professionals by recruiter Halcyon Knights revealed it topped out at the $90,000 to $121,000 bracket, in which 64 per cent of workers were satisfied.

Jumping just one more salary bracket ($121,000 to $150,000) reduced the likelihood of job satisfaction to 60 per cent.

A pay rise may only increase job satisfaction to a certain point. Picture: iStock

The tech sector’s lowest earners ($50,000 to $69,000) and highest earners ($200,000-plus) were equally likely to be disenchanted in their job, at 15 per cent.

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Halcyon Knights co-founder Lincoln Benbow said the best pay packets likely did not equate to the best chance of fulfilment as they also came with extra pressures.

“As you get further up the pay scale, your responsibility level is far greater and that puts more pressure,” he said.

“Their thirst to learn and be creative may be limited because of their role, too.”

The research also found younger workers were more likely to be fulfilled by their career.

Those aged 18 to 25 had a 79 per cent chance of job satisfaction and this dropped with age until reaching it’s lowest point (52 per cent) at age 46 to 50.

It increased again slightly (54 per cent) as workers headed toward retirement.

The education and training industry has the highest rates of job satisfaction. Picture: iStock

Steve Shepherd, chief executive of graduate career coaches TwoPointZero, said young people had fewer expectations of the workforce and this was not likely a trend particular to the IT sector.

He said the beginning of a career was characterised by learning and development, which was often a contributing factor to job satisfaction.

“When you are straight out of school or university, you are in a very different environment,” he said.

“Perhaps if it’s your first job, you are also just grateful you have it.”

Earlier research by SEEK found certain industries offered more fulfilling work than others.

Almost three quarters (74 per cent) of Australians employed in education and training considered their career satisfying – followed by workers in banking and financial services (73 per cent), healthcare and medical (70 per cent) and information and communication technology (70 per cent).

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