U.S. job satisfaction keeps falling.(Headline)

Americans are growing increasingly unhappy with their jobs, The Conference Board reports. The decline in job satisfaction is widespread among workers of all ages and across all income brackets. Half of all Americans today say they are satisfied with their jobs, down from nearly 60 percent in 1995. But among the 50 percent who say they are content, only 14 percent say they are "very satisfied."

This report, which is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households, conducted for The Conference Board by TNS, also includes information collected independently by TNS. This information reveals that approximately one-quarter of the American workforce is simply "showing up to collect a paycheck."

"Rapid technological changes, rising productivity demands and changing employee expectations have all contributed to the decline in job satisfaction," says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. The survey finds that job satisfaction has declined across all income brackets in the last nine years. While 55 percent of workers earning more than $50,000 are satisfied with their jobs, only 14 percent claim they are very satisfied. At the other end of the pay scale (workers earning less than $15,000), about 45 percent of workers are satisfied, but only 17 percent express a strong level of satisfaction.

The survey ...