Few 'Quality' Jobs? 60% of Workers Dissatisfied With Pay and Opportunities
The latest employment report from the Labor Department showed just 22,000 jobs added in August — a sign the labor market is cooling. But new data suggests America’s job problem isn’t just about quantity; it’s about quality.
According to Gallup's 2025 State of the U.S. Labor Force survey, only four in 10 workers say their jobs meet the minimum threshold for a "quality job." Taken together, the data suggests the U.S. doesn’t just face a slowing labor market — it may face a crisis of job quality.
Gallup defines a "quality job" as one that meets at least three of five core factors from pay and safety to growth and worker voice. The survey, which included more than 18,000 workers from across the country, focused on W-2 employees, or those employed directly by a company rather than as independent contractors or freelancers.
Overall, the report found that 60% of workers say their jobs fall short of Gallup's quality threshold. Employees in low-quality jobs report far worse outcomes across nearly every measure of well-being: Just 23% say they’re highly satisfied with their work, compared with 58% of those in quality jobs. More than six in 10 report unstable or unpredictable schedules, and nearly a quarter (24%) say they’ve been treated unfairly or discriminated against because of their identity.
The shortfall isn't just about job satisfaction — it's about financial security. Gallup found that 29% of workers say they're struggling to get by, while another 43% describe themselves as "doing okay." Only 27% say they're "living comfortably," a sign that even with unemployment hovering around 4.3%, many Americans are still struggling to make ends meet.
As hiring slows, the lack of quality is becoming harder for workers to escape.
“Workers have many different motivations behind their jobs, whether it’s financial security, skill development, career progression or more,” Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor, tells Money. “But in a low-hiring environment like we see right now, workers can’t find new jobs on the open market that give them better opportunities, resulting in more workers feeling stuck in jobs with pay or benefits that don’t meet their skills or a lack of career progression commensurate with their experience.”
Career growth, Zhao adds, has long been one of the strongest drivers of job satisfaction — and it’s now in short supply. “Sluggish hiring means workers can’t find openings to move up the career ladder, which also blocks the workers below them from moving up,” he says. “It’s a lot easier to stomach a lackluster merit increase or a return-to-office policy if it comes with a promise of promotion, but if that promotion isn’t coming, workers become disillusioned.”
Gallup's report reinforces that frustration, with 69% of workers saying they have less influence on pay and benefits than they should, the largest so-called "voice gap" across all aspects of job quality.
While some industries are known for poor job quality — for example, food services, where pay and job security tend to be low — Zhao notes that there are notable exceptions.
“In-N-Out Burger ranked in the top 3 on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work 2025 and Best-Led Companies 2025 in large part because of the higher pay, better benefits and clearer upward mobility they provide to their employees,” he says. That contrast shows that “the trend is not destiny” — even in low-wage sectors, some employers have figured out how to offer a higher-quality work experience.
But overall, Zhao says, the cooling job market has exposed which employers are truly committed to job quality. “When times are good, it’s easy for employers to talk the talk,” Zhao says. “But when the job market slows down, it becomes clear which businesses are actually walking the walk.”
Beyond the paychecks
Beyond career progression, job quality also hinges on overall well-being. Pointing to Gallup's finding that 60% of workers fall short of a quality job, Priya Rathod, workplace trends editor at Indeed, says this underscores a troubling reality: Most Americans are not thriving in their jobs.
Indeed’s 2025 Work Wellbeing Report found that only 26% of U.S. workers say they’re thriving at work — meaning nearly three out of four experience low happiness, high stress or a lack of purpose and satisfaction.
“Many jobs fall short not because of pay alone, but because they fail to meet deeper human needs, like feeling energized by the work, having a sense of belonging and trusting the people around them,” Rathod tells Money. Expectations, she adds, are rising fast: 46% of workers say their standards for work well-being have increased in the past year, with Gen Z leading the charge for more purpose-driven, emotionally supportive workplaces.
“Work remains the No. 1 stressor in people’s lives,” Rathod says. “Workers report that poor well-being at work spills into their personal lives, affecting sleep, mental health and relationships."
Indeed’s research also suggests that the strongest predictors of thriving workplaces aren’t flexibility or pay (although these factors remain important), but being energized by work, feeling part of something bigger and trusting coworkers. “When those elements are missing, the job feels transactional rather than fulfilling,” Rathod says.
That focus on well-being is proving to be good for business, too. Companies that prioritize and measure employee experience are three times as likely to excel in well-being and one-and-a-half times more likely to score high on employee adaptability to AI, creativity and productivity. “When companies embed well-being into their culture, they don’t just create better jobs, they build better businesses,” Rathod says.
Job growth alone won’t fix America’s job quality problem. The real test is whether employers can deliver workplaces that offer both upward mobility and a high-quality work experience. Until then, the U.S. risks not just a shortage of jobs, but a shortage of good jobs.
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