One In 20 People Work ‘Bullsh*t Jobs’, Researchers Find

Researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Birmingham have discovered that one in 20 workers are employed in so-called ‘bullsh*t jobs’, a figure that is considerably lower than had previously been thought.

The concept of ‘bullsh*t jobs’ was first put forward by American anthropologist David Graeber, who passed away in September 2020, with the purpose of highlighting connections between having a sense of purpose at work and psychological wellbeing.

Jobs that fell within this ‘bullsh*t’ category – in Graeber’s eyes – included doormen, receptionists, lobbyists and PR specialists, as well as corporate lawyers and legal consultants.

Testing out Graeber’s propositions, researchers examined the 2005 to 2015 European Working Conditions Surveys (EWCS), looking at reasons that led to respondents giving a ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ answer to the statement: ‘I have the feeling of doing useful work’.

Graeber believed that between 20% and 50% of workers – and potentially as many as 60% – had jobs that fitted within this bullsh*t category.

However, data from the EWCS showed that only 4.8% of EU workers reported that did not feel they were employed in useful work. This figure was found to be a bit higher in the UK and Ireland, but even then this only added up to 5.6% of workers.

When we looked at readily-available data from a large cohort of people across Europe, it quickly became apparent to us that very few of the key propositions in Graeber’s theory can be sustained – and this is the case in every country we looked at, to varying degrees. But one of his most important propositions – that BS jobs are a form of ‘spiritual violence’ – does seem to be supported by the data.

Strong evidence was indeed discovered to suggest a connection between a worker perceiving their job as useless and their psychological wellbeing. However, this was found to be more of a correlation than necessarily a causal link.

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