Salary serenity: Majority of workers feel they're paid the right amount of money

Happy woman with table covered with currency
Happy woman with table covered with currency

One consequence of the recession seems to be an increase in the number of workers that believe they are being paid the right amount of money for their job. According to a recent Gallup poll, 53% of American workers said they were being paid "about right." Another 43% believe they are underpaid, and a surprising 4% reported being overpaid. (It would be interesting to see a survey in which workers evaluated the pay of their peers, to see how many would be considered overpaid.)

The survey, taken August 5-8, covered adults older than 17 currently working at least part-time.

Looking back at earlier iterations of this survey shows that in August of 2008, only 46% of those surveyed felt they were making the right amount of money, while more than half (51%) considered themselves underpaid; 3% reported being overpaid.

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