Rose-colored Work Goggles

Given that we have been in a state of near-record unemployment for three years running and the only silver lining is measured in decimal points, the good news is that cheerfulness on the part of those who actually have jobs is still rock-solid.

A majority of us working Americans want to reassure the rest of the country that (even though we may be working because we have to), we also happen to:

• Love our job (71%)
• Respect our boss (82%)
• Be well-regarded by our company (76%)
• Be friends with our colleagues (73%)
• Have a career that is on the right path (67%)
• Be free to be creative in our position (67%)
• Be intellectually stimulated (67%)
• Be paid what we deserve (56%)

And in case that’s not enough for you, most of us employed adults also do not believe (contrary to what you might think) that:

• Our job requires too many hours (67%)
• Our colleagues are less intelligent than we are (67%)
• Our work interferes with our personal life (66%)
• Our current career does not offer room for growth or further accomplishment (61%)

And would you believe that by and large, young people are no different than older people and men are no different than women, in terms of expressing high levels of job satisfaction as described above.

Now my water cooler and my Twitter feed and the Wall Street Occupiers suggest otherwise. In fact, I feel like I am consistently reading that we workers are getting stretched, being paid too little to take on new responsibilities from bosses who don’t appreciate us and colleagues who are out to lunch.

So…. is that a squeaky but loud minority? Or, do most of us not want to admit in a survey the truth of what we feel and say to our close friends? Are some things just fun to complain about, but when it really comes down to it, we actually appreciate what we have? Maybe we feel a whole lot more love for our jobs when we are afraid we might lose them?

More on the employment fear factor next week.