Happiness is ... being a medical secretary

Medical secretaries, butchers, cleaners and petrol pump attendants enjoy far greater job satisfaction than academics in higher and further education, according to researchers at Bath University.

Based on a survey of 35,000 employees, the study shows that medical secretaries top the job satisfaction league and clergy come a close second. More than 70 per cent of those surveyed from the two groups said they were happy with their jobs. By contrast only about a third of higher and further education teaching professionals could make the same boast.

Others claiming a high level of job satisfaction include cleaners (62 per cent), shoe repairers (55 per cent) and nursery nurses (52 per cent). At the bottom of the league are telephone fitters (17 per cent), who are marginally more despondent than assembly line workers and telephone operators. If it is any consolation, authors and journalists fare even worse with only per cent beaming with satisfaction.