From teachers to drivers to IT professionals – money is often the sole employment motivator

YouGov Global Profiles data gives us an insight into the extent to which money is the primary motivator for various professionals. Respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement with the statement, "Money is the only reason I go to work." The verdict is clear – over half of all employees (56%) say money is the sole reason they go to work.

Media agency professionals claim the top spot for overall agreement rates (62%), with food service waitstaff and finance professionals in the same ballpark (61% each).

A range of other different types of employees are represented at the higher end of the list, including drivers (60%) and sales professionals (58%). IT professionals (57%) and clerks (57%) are not all that far behind.

Overall agreement rates among employees such as engineers (55%), healthcare providers (54%), police officers and other law enforcement (54%), and trade specialists such as carpenters and electricians (54%) are in line with the global average.

The lowest levels of agreement were observed among teachers (50%), lawyers (50%), and scientific researchers (47%).

Overall, the spread between various employees isn’t all that uneven. But this changes when looking at the intensity of agreement with the statement. For instance, only 12% of scientific researchers definitely agree that money is the sole reason for them to go into work. This share is more than doubled among drivers (25%) and food service waitstaff (26%).

And while those in the marketing field and healthcare providers are below average for overall agreement levels, they go above average when looking only at shares of those with strongest levels of agreement (22% each).

But while correlation between employment category and overall agreement is modest, that is not the case when comparing the data between markets. Looking at a selection of 12 markets out of the 48 we ask this question, variances can be much sharper. Colombians, who show the lowest agreement levels even in the total 48-market list, are only a third as likely as Thai employees to say they definitely agree with the statement (11% vs 30%).

Brits too rank very highly on the agreement levels too, with 31% saying they definitely agree and 36% who tend to agree (total: 67%).

Money as the primary employment motivator is a sentiment that resonates strongly with Americans too (61%), although their neighbors to the north – Canada – fall well below the global average at 51%.

Consumers in India (58%), Japan (58%), Germany (58%) and Saudi Arabia (57%) reflect shares close to the global average. Hungary (49%), Argentina (44%) and Denmark (43%), in addition to Colombia (34%), are among the markets with agreement rates well below the global average.

For further breakdown of this data – such as agreement levels by employment in specific markets – reach out to us by clicking on any of the buttons below.

Methodology: YouGov Global Profiles is a globally consistent audience dataset with 1000+ questions across 48 markets. The data is based on continuously collected data from adults aged 16+ years in China and 18+ years in other markets. The sample sizes for YouGov Global Profiles will fluctuate over time, however the minimum sample size is always c.1000. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from India and UAE, which use urban representative samples, and China, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, which use online representative samples. Learn more about Global Profiles.

Image Credit: Alexander Mils on Unsplash