UK Job Satisfaction Hits Record Low of 74% as Pay Frustration Bites

UK job satisfaction has fallen to 74%, the lowest level recorded since the British Social Attitudes survey first asked the question in 1989. The Resolution Foundation thinktank, which analysed the 2025 survey data, blames rising frustration over pay, a lack of flexible working, insecure jobs and a loss of independence.

The drop is steep and broad. Satisfaction stood at 81% in 2015. A decade later, it has shed seven percentage points and hit a 36-year low.

The decline is not just about how workers feel. It shows up in what they're willing to do. The proportion of workers who said they would work harder than required to help their employer succeed fell from 69% in 2015 to 55% in 2025, according to the study. British workers, the thinktank found, are less willing to go "above and beyond for their employers than they were a decade ago."

What is driving the decline?

Pay sits at the centre of it. Hannah Slaughter, an economist at the Resolution Foundation and co-author of the report, said the number of workers reporting low pay has risen — and the concern spans all pay scales.

Decades of weak pay growth combined with the spiralling cost of living are souring the outlook of every group, Slaughter said. The demand for greater flexibility is equally pronounced.

"Workers increasingly want jobs that provide flexibility, independence and financial security. But many feel those expectations are not being met," Slaughter said.

The quality of work itself has also deteriorated in workers' eyes. Fewer workers said they had an interesting job or one offering a chance of advancement. The proportion saying they have an interesting job fell from 74% to 63% over the decade.

One finding cuts against the gloom. Only 4% of workers said there was "little intrinsic value" from working — a figure that has stayed flat over time. What has declined, the thinktank stressed, is the number of people feeling positive about the jobs they actually do.

Is this a return to 1970s-style discontent?

Separate polling by Ipsos, stretching back to the 1980s, backs the foundation's findings. Workers reported much lower satisfaction this year than when the same question was asked in 1976 and 1986. In 1976, 83% said they were very or fairly satisfied with their work. By 2026, that figure had fallen to 69%.

That trajectory matters for employers reading the numbers. Discontent of this depth has a modern precedent only in the late 1970s.

Slaughter warned the consequences extend well beyond morale. "The result is rising frustration among workers, who report lower job satisfaction, declining willingness to go above and beyond, and a reduced appetite for full-time work," she said.

She called the pattern a "dissatisfaction drain". "This 'dissatisfaction drain' is self-evidently bad for workers, but it also doesn't bode well for productivity and labour supply, both of which are vital for lifting living standards in the years ahead," Slaughter said.

Are young people simply more work-shy?

No, according to John Curtice, the Strathclyde professor and pollster who co-edits the British Social Attitudes report. The findings show young people have not become more work-shy, "nor have workers in general become more reluctant to change jobs," he said.

But Curtice drew a direct lesson for employers. "But if workers are to be fully engaged in their work, it has seemingly become more important for employers to provide jobs that are both financial rewarding and have flexible work hours," he said.

Why does this matter for the wider economy?

The Resolution Foundation said its analysis offers policymakers an insight into how they could reverse decades of slowing productivity growth, low levels of job mobility and high economic inactivity among some groups — most notably younger people.

The stakes are macroeconomic. The thinktank ties the satisfaction slump directly to productivity and labour supply, the two levers it calls vital for lifting living standards in the years ahead.

For HR departments and boardrooms, the message from the data is blunt. Workers haven't stopped valuing work — only 4% see little intrinsic value in it — but they have stopped getting what they want from the jobs on offer: flexibility, independence and financial security. Employers who close that gap engage their workforce. Those who don't face a workforce that calculates rather than commits, at 55% and falling.

The next British Social Attitudes survey will show whether 74% marks the floor or simply a waypoint on a longer decline.