Up Front 04/04

City & Guilds, the UK’s leading awarding body for work related, vocational qualifications, recently announced the findings of a piece of research on what was called the ‘Happiness Index’. Compiled to track the satisfaction of the country’s workforce, the research has come up with some interesting findings. The happiest workers in the country are apparently care assistants – whilst the most unhappy are estate agents. Overall, the happiness in the workplace gap was most noticeable between trade and white collar. It seems that twenty one per cent of trade professionals such as plumbers, electricians, builders and hairdressers are ‘extremely happy’ with their job, while only nine per cent of white-collar workers such as accountants, lawyers, architects and estate agents could say the same. Researchers were quick to point out that, ‘hands on’ jobs, such as those done by trade and vocational professionals may well give more immediate job satisfaction, as tangible results are often more easily apparent. The West Country is not exactly awash with high paid jobs and most people eke out a living as best they can, happy to be away from the extra stress of city living and its associated expense. It does have a higher than average number of retired people and with an ageing population and a growing burden on governments’ ability to finance a quality care system, we should be glad that care assistants are the happiest at their jobs. Long may they be happy.