When a New Job Provides Little Financial Satisfaction...

When the Rolling Stones sang “I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction),” or comedian Rodney Dangerfield spoke of getting, “No Respect,” they could have just as easily been speaking about today’s labor market, full of employees, in some cases, just happy to be employed, but far from content with where they are and what they’re doing.

A new Gallup poll, based on the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, showed that 87.5 percent of workers were content with their jobs in April. And while that's up from the low of 86.9 percent in July and August of last year, it remains below February 2008’s figures when 89.4 percent of workers polled said they were satisfied with their work.

It may seem like an obvious point, but many of the most dissatisfied workers were also the lowest paid (i.e., those polled who earned $36,000 or less per year). Gallup data also revealed that levels of job satisfaction among those surveyed fell most steeply among the nation's least well-educated. Of those workers without a high school degree, those satisfied with their jobs dropped to 84 percent from 86.5 percent in 2008.

The more striking point though, is that many Americans have not regained their pre-recessionary job satisfaction. And it’s easy to see why: people reeling from the recent recession and clamoring to get a job, any job, usually end up underemployed, with lower wages, longer hours, fewer benefits, and essentially less provided for more work. So, in addition to the fact that fewer workers simply consider their jobs (or new jobs) to be less interesting, incomes have simply not kept up with inflation and the soaring costs of health insurance have eaten into worker’s take home pay.

The “lower incomes” part of this equation often means families are forced to make huge sacrifices in monthly expenditures, and can often find themselves behind on their mortgages, car payments or basic utilities—even with a steady income. This reality is especially true for younger men and women, whose education loans often exceed their yearly salaries; racial minorities who have heavier concentrations in lower wage jobs, but no fewer dreams and expectations of owning a home or car; and the long-term unemployed (no matter what income level), who find, once they are hired again, it is often in at a pay grade far lower than they were accustomed to.

If you’re like many people languishing in the current economic malaise, you can hardly wait for signs of strong job growth and wage increases. But what will you do in the meantime, as housing prices continue to drop and your personal debt rises? Avoiding the summer of your financial discontent is often easier than you think. Even as we experience a purported “national economic recovery,” it may be a good time to take your financial future into your own hands, so that you can experience your own economic recovery, even before the country actually sees the benefits of its own.

A personal bankruptcy can provide the very solution to your underemployment woes. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy can virtually erase unsecured debt like credit cards or medial costs, while a Chapter 13 plan can buy you time to pay down your debts and keep the assets you love. These options can take the financial weight off of families struggling to make ends meet in workplaces that are leaving many singing, “we can’t get no job satisfaction.”

The bankruptcy attorneys at the Law Offices of John T. Orcutt offer a totally FREE debt consultation and there’s no time like the present to take them up on their offer. Just call toll free to +1-833-627-0115, or during the off hours, you can make your own appointment right online at www.billsbills.com. Simply click on the yellow “FREE Consultation Now” button.