In a fluctuating economy where a person might considering taking any job that he or she can get, it makes you wonder…are people actually happy with their jobs?  According to CareerBliss, an online job site that recently conducted a survey evaluating career happiness, the answer is yes.  It was found that those people who are happiest with their jobs, often have the same type of jobs.  CareerBliss surveyed over 100,400 employees with varying careers (excluding executive level jobs) from February 2011 to January 2012.  Employees were questioned about factors such as their satisfaction with employee-boss-coworker relations, company culture, growth potential, wages, responsibilities, and control of their job tasks.  From this, the Happiest Jobs in the US were determined:

1.    Software Quality Assurance Engineer
A Software Quality Assurance Engineer evaluates and reviews a product prior to the final product being released.  They are often involved in software development from beginning to end.

2.    Executive Chef & Project Manager (Tie)
An Executive Chef performs tasks such as cooking, creating the menu, and training staff.  A Project Manager coordinates buying, selling, and the entire transaction involved in real estate.

3.    Bank Teller & Warehouse Manager (Tie)
A Bank Teller works with customers and handles the cash.  A warehouse manager coordinates supplies, distribution, and the overall supervision of a warehouse.

Although the top 5 jobs may seem surprising, many people cite their happiness as being a result of the people that they work with. Other jobs that made the happiest jobs list such as Accountant, Human Resource Manager, and Customer Services Representative can also be attributed to the people factor.  This finding is further emphasized upon discovering that people who hold jobs with regular people interaction, tend to be happier employees.  People spend the majority of their time at work so whether you are currently employed or looking for a new opportunity, this is definitely an important finding to consider.

This past Friday, the Bureau of Labor announced a new job growth record: the best six months for payroll job creation since 2006!  The U.S. is estimated to have added 227,000 jobs in February—and around 1.2 million over the past six months.  The unemployment rate remained at 8.3 percent, which remains the three-year-low.  Still, experts are concerned about the long-term unemployed—many of whom have been forced to take part-time jobs or have become so discouraged that they have stopped looking for a job entirely.   Hopefully we will see these figures improve in the coming months.  Which industries hired the most?  The industries that experienced the most growth in February were professional and business services, followed by education and health. 

According to a recent private survey, the job market will improve in 2012 more than economists estimated!  Economists predicted an increase in payrolls by 127,000 per month back in November, but now predictions are near 170,000 per month.  In addition, unemployment will average 8.3 percent, compared to the 8.9 percent forecast in fall 2011.  The improved outlook for the job market is linked to strides in business investment and homebuilding.  Consumer spending is also expected to rise by 2.4 percent.  Some recent economic predictions even suggest that the unemployment rate could drop to 7.8 percent by 2013!  Let’s hope we see more people find employment in the coming months. 

Could Facebook be a good indicator people’s job performance?  According to a recent study, maybe so.  To test the theory, three “raters,” including one professor and two students, were asked to review 56 Facebook profiles of undergraduate students who had jobs.  The raters were permitted to review each profile for around 10 minutes before answering personality-oriented questions about the people they were reviewing.  They looked through photos, groups, basic information, number of friends, and beyond to determine job performance traits, such as conscientiousness and agreeability.  After six months, the researchers collected evaluations from each of the students’ employers.  The results show a strong correlation between the raters’ evaluations and those of the employers.  Could Facebook become a trustworthy recruiting tool? Maybe one day, but much more research needs to be done first!

Are your employees happy?  It may have to do with the industry you’re in.  In a recent survey based on over 43,000 employee reviews, employees rated their happiness.  The ratings measured relationships with bosses and co-workers, work environment, job resources, salary, opportunities for growth, company culture, daily responsibilities, and a sense of control over one’s work.  Here is a list of the top happiest and unhappiest industries:

Happiest
1.    Government
2.    Education
3.    Wholesale & distribution
4.    Real estate & construction
5.    Tie between financial services and telecommunications

Unhappiest
1.    Agriculture & mining
2.    Nonprofit
3.    Software & internet
4.    Tie between media & entertainment and retail

Oracle announced today its acquisition of Taleo, a human resource technology company, for $1.9 billion.  The transaction took place in response to SAP’s acquisition of SuccessFactors, which occurred this past December.  Both Oracle and SAP were seeking to build out their cloud-based business – cloud software is becoming increasingly popular because it’s far less expensive and easier to implement. In addition, the transactions were meant to act as a buffer for lost sales to Workday, which recently announced its IPO.  Since the announcement, Taleo shares have increased 18 percent, landing at $46 per share.  Many experts in the space believe that more consolidation will occur within the industry over the next few years…Plan accordingly!

Jobs are on the rise again!  The U.S. Department of Labor announced that the U.S. added 243,000 jobs in January, lowering the national unemployment rate to 8.3%.  This is the second month in a row that the job market performed better than economists’ predictions.  In fact, this is the largest jobs increase the U.S. has seen since May 2010!  Although the government is still cutting jobs, the private sector added 257,000.  Within the private sector, manufacturing contributed 50,000 new positions, while the professional services industry added 176,000.  Jobs in healthcare also increased, up by 30,900 workers, and accounting jobs were up by 12,500.  Unfortunately, both the finance and Information sectors lost workers—the majority of which were connected to the film and recording industry.  Interestingly enough, the Monster Employment Index, which monitors the number of job postings online, has been consistently declining since October.  Perhaps these new figures will reignite employers’ confidence, and we will see more recruiting efforts in the near future! 

According to a recent survey by Global Strategy Group, the majority of senior managers are underwhelmed by the recent college graduates applying for entry-level positions.  The study found that 65% of senior managers and C-level executives believe that entry-level candidates are only “somewhat” prepared for business success, while 40% of C-suite executives claim that these candidates are “not prepared at all.”  Almost half of these executives think that fewer than 25% of recent graduates have acquired the skills they need to advance past entry-level positions—skills such as problem solving, collaboration, critical thinking, clear communication, and persuasive writing.  These results suggest that companies are increasingly looking for candidates who are ready to hit the ground running, as opposed to their expectations in past days when recent graduates were not pressured to learn these skills until they entered the workforce. Career experts argue that this change in expectations is primarily due to the increasing competition for entry-level jobs.  Competition for great entry-level positions is fierce, so employers can demand more from their candidates!

The U.S. Labor Bureau announced today that last week’s jobless claims dropped to their lowest point in almost four years, further suggesting that the job market is on the mend.  Only 352,000 people filed for unemployment benefits, compared to 402,000 the week before.  Jobless claims haven’t been so low since the week of April 19, 2008!  According to experts, jobless claims infrequently drop below 300,000, so 350,000 is getting close to a healthy job market.  In other good news, the December payroll report determined that hiring increased, while unemployment decreased.  While we don’t quite have enough information to see a consistent positive trend, we have good reason to be hopeful that more people will find jobs in the coming months! 

While the job market had its ups and downs in 2011, the year ended on a positive note, boasting the lowest monthly unemployment rate in nearly 3 years!  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, the private sector added 1.9 million jobs in 2011, including 200,000 jobs in the December.  In addition, monthly jobless claims are at their lowest since June 2008.  Curious to know which industries most contributed to job growth in 2011?  The healthcare industry created 350,300 jobs, making it the top industry for job growth last year.  Here is a list of the top 10 industries of 2011:

1.    Health Care and Social Services
2.    Accommodation and Food Services
3.    Professional and Technical Services
4.    Durable Goods Manufacturing
5.    Administrative and Waste Services
6.    Mining and Logging
7.    Wholesale Trade
8.    Educational Services
9.    Transportation and Warehousing
10.   Construction

Here's to more jobs in 2012!