By Teh Shi Ning

CIVIL servants are happier than private sector employees, says a survey by local online jobs portal JobsCentral.

The August poll of 5,460 working adults in Singapore on their job satisfaction levels, showed that the average employee here is 'neutral' about their work with a happiness score of 56.4 on the survey's scale of 0 to 100.

Respondents who work for the government had an average happiness score of 58.5, higher than the 55.9 average scored by employees in the private sector.

'The current downturn has probably made the employee value proposition of working as a civil servant even better compared to the badly hit private sector,' said JobsCentral chief executive Lim Der Shing.

Of the respondents, about 17 per cent were government employees. Singapore's civil service currently hires about 2 per cent of the 2.94 million employees here.

By industry, employees in arts, entertainment and recreation were happiest, with a score of 69, followed by those in real estate and leasing services. On the other end, workers in the manufacturing of paper products and printing, as well as fabricated metal products, scored lowest.

By job function, those in education and training, public relations and consulting, were most satisfied at work, with scores of close to 60.

The survey also sought to uncover what employees value in their jobs. Advancement opportunities was ranked the most important work attribute but was also the one that most were least satisfied with.

Acceptable work demands and salary were ranked second and third most important.

Pay was also what respondents were most dissatisfied with about their jobs, after a lack of career advancement. It was no surprise then, that the unhappiest respondents earn below $1,000 a month.

Other findings that the survey threw up included men being slightly happier about their jobs than women, and that older employers tend to be happier. Those with higher educational qualifications were also more likely to be happy at work.

This article was first published in The Business Times.