Enjoyment of Work by Full-Time Workers in the U.S., 1955 and 1980

Two questions concerning enjoyment of work asked on a 1955 American Gallup Poll were asked on a 1980 United States national survey to gauge the net change during a quarter of a century. Only the responses of persons employed full-time were used for this study. Indicated enjoyment of work was substantially lower in 1980 than in 1955. The difference was especially great for manual workers, Protestants, and older persons. A tentative conclusion drawn from examining trend data for one birth cohort is that the change resulted from cohort succession and from orientations and attitudes members of younger cohorts brought to their work rather than from changes in work conditions which affected workers of all ages and in all birth cohorts. Some implications of the findings are disscussed.