Are Business Owners Happier?

According to the Wall Street Journal, business owners outrank 10 other occupational groups in overall happiness and well-being.

Check out Roger Peugeot, who owns a plumbing company. He's had challenges. He's laid off workers and isn't getting as much work as he used to, but the guy is happy to come to work every day.

In hard times, he says, his fate is in his own hands, rather than those of a manager. "Even when things get tough, I'm still in control," says Roger the Plumber.

Business owners surpassed 10 other occupational groups on a composite measure of six criteria of contentment, including emotional and physical health, job satisfaction, healthy behavior, access to basic needs and self-reports of overall life quality.

The findings, psychologists say, reflect the importance of being free to choose the work you do and how you do it, the way you manage your time, and the way you respond to adversity. Regardless of occupational field, the survey suggests that seeking out enjoyable work and finding a way to do it on your own terms, with some control over both the process and the outcome, is likely for most people to fuel satisfaction and contentment.

"Despite the recession, it still pays to be your own boss," says Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll. The survey, adds John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, "reaffirms my view that the more control you have over your work, the happier you are."