The 'unhappiest' jobs to have in the US have been revealed with surprising results
Dan Seddon
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
One surprising customer-facing job is the worst to have in America, apparently.
Conducted by the world's leading workforce management platform for hourly work, Deputy, the latest Shift Pulse Report offers a sobering illustration of how the nation's shift workers are feeling day to day.
Based on over 1.5 million end-of-shift surveys completed in the year between April 2024 and April 2025, this eye-opening report also takes a look at the optimism and imbalances occurring within workforces.
This year's third consecutive report introduced a new metric, taking the form of a Net Happiness Score.
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It's described as a 'standardised way to track sentiment and identify workplace pressure points by time, industry, and geography'.
"Since sentiment is a leading indicator of employee turnover, burnout, absenteeism, and performance, the insights from this report are crucial to business operations and success," the reports explains.
Arriving at just under 14 percent in the statistics, it's pharmacy staff who appear to be the unhappiest.
Following pharmaceutical professionals in the unhappy lineup are the delivery and postal service industries, animal health, and medical clinics.
And of course, on the other side of the coin we have the happiest workers.
The happiest, according to the findings, are those clocking in for tobacco, e-cigarette and cannabis businesses to the tune of 91 percent, while catering, coffee shops/cafes, and dental offices are other smiley environments.
Deputy also revealed that nearly 79 percent of nationwide shift staff 'say they feel good or amazing about their work'.
"States like South Carolina, Virginia, and Utah are leading the way, showing that investments in scheduling flexibility and culture pay off in morale and retention," it adds.
States such as New Mexico, Vermont and North Dakota rate lower Net Happiness Scores, feeling 'unsupported, overstretched and unseen'.
This comes as people on Reddit are losing their minds over a supposed 'job benefit' given to Americans.
A question on the forum site asked users: 'What is something Americans consider normal, but people from other countries find it disturbing?'
With nothing even resembling the NHS over in the States, dedicated employees are willed into contractual situations by the carrot of having medical coverage. Otherwise, even ordering an ambulance can cost thousands.
"Health coverage being linked to employment," someone replied. '"This job pays like sh*t and I hate it, but if I quit my essential medication won't be covered until I get hired somewhere else, so I can't risk it!'"
Also being surprised at America's healthcare system, another Redditor said: "I mean, I come from South Africa and if you have zero money, zero job you have access to 100% free healthcare."
Others noted that in some jobs in the US you have to work for the company for a certain amount of time before being eligible for insurance.