Quality control inspectors are one of the least happy careers in the United States.

At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, quality control inspectors rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 16% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy quality control inspectors are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:

Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers

Career Satisfaction Avg Salary
Energy broker
2.8
$55k
Industrial production manager
2.8
$103k
Supply chain manager
2.8
$125k
Electronic assembler
2.8
$28k
Budget analyst
2.8
$80k
Quality control inspector
2.8
$49k
Transportation planner
2.8
$84k
IT support specialist
2.8
$49k
Mail superintendent
2.7
$80k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are quality control inspectors happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do quality control inspectors find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as quality control inspectors?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are quality control inspector’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are quality control inspectors making the best use of their abilities?

Are quality control inspectors happy with their salary?

Quality control inspectors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Quality control inspectors tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

We asked quality control inspectors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

2.9 out of 5 stars

814 quality control inspectors

5 Star
11%

11% of quality control inspectors rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of quality control inspectors rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
28%

28% of quality control inspectors rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of quality control inspectors rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
17%

17% of quality control inspectors rated their compensation 1 stars

Do quality control inspectors find their jobs meaningful?

On average, quality control inspectors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.4/5. The majority of quality control inspectors struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.

We asked quality control inspectors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

2.4 out of 5 stars

820 quality control inspectors

5 Star
7%

7% of quality control inspectors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
14%

14% of quality control inspectors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of quality control inspectors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
25%

25% of quality control inspectors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
34%

34% of quality control inspectors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as quality control inspectors?

Quality control inspectors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of quality control inspectors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked quality control inspectors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.6 out of 5 stars

900 quality control inspectors

5 Star
23%

23% of quality control inspectors rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
36%

36% of quality control inspectors rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of quality control inspectors rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
10%

10% of quality control inspectors rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of quality control inspectors rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a quality control inspector’s work environment?

As a whole, quality control inspectors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

We asked quality control inspectors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

890 quality control inspectors

5 Star
19%

19% of quality control inspectors rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
28%

28% of quality control inspectors rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of quality control inspectors rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of quality control inspectors rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
11%

11% of quality control inspectors rated their work environment 1 stars

Are quality control inspectors making the best use of their abilities?

Former quality control inspectors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.7/5. Quality control inspectors tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

We asked quality control inspectors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

2.7 out of 5 stars

896 quality control inspectors

5 Star
10%

10% of quality control inspectors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
18%

18% of quality control inspectors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of quality control inspectors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
25%

25% of quality control inspectors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
23%

23% of quality control inspectors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars