The grad jobs which will make you the most miserable, plus how little you earn

You’d hope that once you’ve made it through the stress and strain and borderline caffeine dependency of university, that life would get happier, right? Not really. Here’s a list of the 10 industries where people are the most miserable, so you know which areas to avoid when you’re looking for grad jobs. Unless your degree is in social care. In which case you’re already screwed.

The CV website resume.io calculated a “happiness score” for all the big UK industries. They factored in how often people on these career paths quit their jobs, and how many hours they work per week. We’ve also included the median salary in each industry, so you can figure out if getting a related grad job is worth the pain.

So, here are the ten industries which will make you the most miserable, and you probably shouldn’t get grad jobs in.

10. Real estate – 7.71 happiness score

I look at rediculously pretty houses on Rightmove recreationally, but apparently it’s not so fun when it’s your job. Not everyone who works in real estate can be as rich as a Selling Sunset agent – the usual amount of money to make is an averagey £34,623.

9. Arts and entertainment – 6.64 happiness score

Theatre kids had best give up on their dreams now

This feels so rogue to me, because you’d think people who make TV shows and films and things are living their best lives? Apparently not. The median salary is just £31,874 – I guess the mere mortals who work in the industry and aren’t Taylor Swift generally don’t get paid that much.

8. Construction and architecture – 6.61 happiness score

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You’ll make quite a bit of money if you work in this industry – the mean salary is £41,319. You won’t be cheerful, though. Kudos to anyone willing to spend time on a building site in the depths of a British winter. I feel cold just thinking about it.

7. Information and communication – 6.47 happiness score

This is easily the best-paid career on the list. The average salary is £48,320. I guess IT jobs pay reasonably well? I should’ve done a computer science degree.

6. Water supply, sewerage and waste management – 6.14 happiness score

I would be miserable too if I was responsible for the state of the River Thames

It turns out that dealing with sh*t is a sh*t job. British water companies are in a lot of hot water right now (okay, not my best pun) and the workers aren’t thriving. People who work in this industry make £39,447 a year on average.

5. Administrative support and support service – 5.88 happiness score

This includes office admin jobs and roles in HR. You have to do boring admin tasks for a living, and only get paid £33,250 for your efforts.

4. Human health and social work – 5.87 happiness score

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I bet your glad you ignored your parents and didn’t study medicine now. I can’t imagine anything more miserable than spending your life waiting on diseased people, and apparently the people who do it voluntarily don’t enjoy it that much either. The average salary is £34,273.

3. Wholesale and retail trade – 4.87 happiness score

This is a very broad industry, and apparently there aren’t many happy people within it. The very mediocre salary of £32,126 doesn’t really make up for it.

2. Agriculture, forestry and fishing – 4.74 happiness score

Spending all day in a forest sounds so vibey in theory, but apparently the reality is pretty grim. The average salary in this industry is £31,795. I guess spending any significant amount of time outdoors in Britain is going get very rainy and very gloomy.

1. Accommodation and food service activities – 4.12 happiness score

Time to try ditching the customer service jobs, ladies. People who get grad jobs in food service and accommodation are officially the most miserable. Apparently a third of people with these jobs only last less than a year. The average salary in this industry is £27,414 (because we all know people who work in pubs and cafes are massively underpaid for the amount of work they do).