Russians are less satisfied with their jobs and salaries than people in other countries

The majority of working people around the world (65 per cent) are quite satisfied with their jobs, with 17 per cent saying the opposite. A further 17 per cent said they had a neutral attitude to work - they felt neither pleasure nor displeasure about it. 

Among Russians, opinions on the issue of work were divided as follows: half of our compatriots (51%) are satisfied with their work to some extent, every fifth (22%) takes a neutral position on this issue, and another 22% of respondents do not feel pleasure from their work.

These are the results of an international survey conducted at the end of 2023 by the association of independent research agencies Gallup International in 44 countries around the world, in Russia the study was conducted by ROMIR.

Data source: Gallup International and ROMIR, 2023

The results of the study showed that job satisfaction is mainly influenced by income and education - the higher the education or salary, the greater the job satisfaction. Other demographic characteristics, such as gender or age, have little influence on people's attitudes towards their jobs.

Significant differences in job satisfaction were found across countries and regions. For example, in African countries, a minority of 31 per cent are satisfied with their jobs, while more than half of respondents are dissatisfied. In India, compared to other countries, the proportion of those satisfied with their job is also lower - 49 per cent. At the same time, residents of Europe (both EU and non-EU countries), the USA, Western Asia, and Latin America are most satisfied with their jobs - the share of such answers reaches 70%.

Satisfaction with remuneration is not necessarily related to the attitude to work. A person may be satisfied with his or her job but not satisfied with the remuneration he or she receives for it, and vice versa. Thus, the proportion of those satisfied with remuneration has traditionally been lower. 

Almost half of working people worldwide (47%) are satisfied with their salary, about a third (31%) are not satisfied, and almost one in five (19%) could not give a definite answer to the question.

In Russia, the shares of those satisfied and dissatisfied with their salaries are almost equal - 38% and 39% respectively. One fifth of our compatriots (21%) have a neutral attitude to the question of satisfaction with their salary. 

Data source: Gallup International and ROMIR, 2023

The survey results showed that men are slightly more satisfied with their remuneration than women. Younger people were also more likely to talk about satisfaction with their salary than older generations. However, age and gender play a minor role in satisfaction with remuneration compared to income and education, which are more important determinants of people's attitudes towards decent wages.

In richer countries and regions of the world, the proportion satisfied with wages is noticeably higher. Western countries (Europe - both EU and non-EU countries), the US and Latin America rank highest in terms of people's satisfaction with wages. Large countries such as India and some parts of Africa, on the other hand, stand out with the lowest proportion of people satisfied with their salaries - between 20 per cent and 30 per cent. 

ROMIR President Andrey Milekhin comments on the survey results: ‘Pandemic and lockdowns, remote working and gadgets have not significantly changed the attitude of the world's inhabitants to work. The polarisation of the world, including the issue of salaries, continues: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It is not known exactly what awaits us in the not too distant future. On the one hand, the era of new technologies using artificial intelligence is coming, which may change the balance of power in the global labour market and affect the well-being of some regions. On the other hand, the demographic avalanche coming from the African continent and the Islamic world could also completely change the rules on the issue of labour employment.’ 

*The End of the Year Project surveyed more than 40,000 people in 44 countries between October and December 2023. In each country, the surveys were conducted using national or urban samples. It is not possible to verify the quality of primary data collection for a number of countries. In Russia, the ROMIR research company interviewed 1,500 respondents using a nationally representative sample.