Money matters: Workers with these careers are happiest with their paychecks

This edition of Workforce Insights is written and reported by Taylor Borden .

Cinneah El-Amin, M.S. will be the first to tell you that she’s making good money.

“Becoming a product manager changed my life,” she said. Just five years ago, El-Amin was struggling as a college student relying on financial aid and on-campus jobs to support her liberal arts degree. Today, she’s “thriving” as a young professional with a six-figure salary that helps her live the life she’s always dreamed of, from investing to traveling frequently.

Product managers like El-Amin take the cake when it comes to who exactly is happiest with their paychecks, according to the latest edition of LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index survey. Conducted between June 4 and September 9 of this year, some 32,162 American professionals were asked if they feel well-compensated for the work they do — and nearly half (49%) said yes.

The responses varied based on people’s line of work. Those with certain job functions are far happier with their pay than others, as shown in the chart. Beyond product managers — 62% of whom feel well-compensated — those with careers in engineering (60%), real estate (59%), project management (58%) and consulting (57%) prove to be the most satisfied with their compensation.

Some of these careers are tied to tech and financial services — industries that are known to pay well — while others, like careers in real estate, depend on what you put into it. Commission earnings, for example, can really boost a paycheck.

Those with careers that aren’t tied to private entities with as many resources don’t feel as well-compensated. Educators, unsurprisingly, are the least satisfied with their paychecks. Just 39% of educators reported feeling well-compensated. Many have already quit in search of higher paying roles in other industries amid the pandemic. Entrepreneurs (41%) and social services workers (43%) round out the three job functions least likely to feel well-compensated.

Coincidentally, these groups of workers are also among the least likely to ask for a raise anytime soon, according to the survey. Research from personal finance platform WalletHub found that while most Americans are itching for big raises to take the sting out of still-hot inflation , most don’t feel empowered to ask for them due to economic uncertainty.??

Only about 29% of U.S. workers plan to ask their bosses for a pay bump in the coming months, but product managers and marketers exceed that average, both at 39%. Workers with these roles seem to be more comfortable discussing compensation to begin with. Most marketers (61%) believe pay transparency will lead to pay equality — and are most likely to share their pay with people they are familiar with like family members, friends and trusted peers and mentors.

Engineers, who are the second happiest with their compensation, also agree that pay transparency will lead to pay equality for the most part (54%).?

Take Karen Mattox for example. She is a software engineer based in Florida who only started feeling like she was being paid her worth after becoming a manager. “All of the men working for me made more than I did doing the same role I had been performing,” she said. “That amount of transparency made a 20% difference in my pay.” El-Amin is also a big fan of pay transparency. She’s built a network of women on TikTok in product management who are leveraging salary transparency to get ahead at work.?

But it’s not just all about a fatter paycheck for Mattox or El-Amin. Both said there’s a deeper fulfillment to their jobs, like feeling challenged to come up with creative solutions or feeling proud of seeing a new product idea through to implementation.

Job fulfillment is essential, El-Amin argued, but doesn’t mean your pay shouldn’t keep rising each year. Feeling well-compensated, to her, means being able to maintain — and elevate — your lifestyle. Inflation rose 8.3% year-over-year last month. Standard yearly raises likely won’t cover how much more expensive goods and services are getting, making it more difficult for some to feel good about their compensation packages.

Her advice for those who aren’t thrilled? “Loyalty doesn’t pay the bills,” she said. “Leave and earn more money at another company.”

Methodology

LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index is based on a quantitative online survey distributed to members via email every two weeks. Roughly 5,000 U.S.-based members respond to each wave. Members are randomly sampled and must be opted into research to participate. Students, stay-at-home partners and retirees are excluded from analysis so we can get an accurate representation of those currently active in the workforce. We analyze data in aggregate and will always respect member privacy. Data is weighted by engagement level to ensure fair representation of various activity levels on the platform. The results represent the world as seen through the lens of LinkedIn’s membership; variances between LinkedIn’s membership and the overall market population are not accounted for.

Allie Lewis from LinkedIn Market Research contributed to this article.