Conference Board: We've just hit a peak at job satisfaction. AI threatens to completely ruin that for the unlucky 50% | Fortune

Job satisfaction among American workers reached nearly 69%, the highest level recorded since tracking began in 1987. The next decade of work may be shaped by AI, which improves work for some employees while increasing insecurity for others. Employees using advanced AI tools report higher job satisfaction, engagement, mental health, and intent to stay. Nearly 40% of workers say AI improved their job satisfaction, while most workers report neutral or anxious feelings. AI has mixed effects on career expectations, with 30% more confident and nearly a quarter less confident. Unemployed adults are almost twice as likely to say AI hurts their prospects, signaling potential workforce-wide negative outcomes if organizations manage AI poorly.

"At nearly 69%, it is the highest level of job satisfaction we have recorded since we began tracking in 1987. It may also be the high-water mark. Because the same force most likely to define the next decade of work - AI - is already threatening to pull that number back down for a large portion of the workforce."

"AI is improving work dramatically for some employees while leaving others feeling less secure, less confident, and further behind. If organizations aren't careful, their approach to AI will split their workforce into haves and have-nots, undermining the technology's benefits. Our research found that employees using advanced AI tools are significantly more likely to report higher job satisfaction, engagement, mental health, and intent to stay."

"Nearly 40% of workers say AI has improved their job satisfaction, and the share saying it has significantly improved satisfaction rose sharply over the past year. But that leaves the majority of the workforce somewhere between indifferent and actively anxious - and anxious is where the story gets alarming. AI has had a mixed impact on career expectations."

"While 30% of employed workers say AI has made them more confident in their career prospects, nearly a quarter say it has made them less confident. Among unemployed adults looking for work, the anxiety is even more pronounced: They are almost twice as likely to say AI hurts their prospects. Add the neutral and the worried together, and you have a workforce in which a large portion of workers are not benefiting from the AI moment that is supposedly transforming everything."

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