The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago surveyed over 50,000 Americans to determine which occupations scored the highest and lowest in terms of overall job satisfaction. Whereas firefighters and physical therapists were generally very satisfied employees, roofers and cashiers were generally unsatisfied with their jobs.

Use the Department of Labor ’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET; http://online.onetcenter.org ) to compare job descriptions and relevant knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics of: 

(a) Firefighters, 

(b) Physical therapists, 

(c) Roofers, and 

(d) Cashiers. 

In terms of the core characteristics of the Job Characteristics Model, which occupations inherently have high levels of task identity, task significance, skill variety, autonomy, and feedback? Judging from these four jobs, do higher values of JCM core characteristics appear to correlate with higher job satisfaction? What other factors might impact the satisfaction scores?