Have you ever thought your job has no meaning? Your work hours are a complete waste of time? If the answer is yes, you are not alone. According to a latest study, eight out of 100 employees believe their job is useless.

The study report by Robert Dur of Erasmus University Rotterdam and Max van Lent of Leiden University claims 8 percent of the world's workforce consider their jobs are socially useless. In addition, 17 percent are doubtful about the social usefulness of their jobs as well.

Employee working in Bangalore
Employee working in an office in BengaluruReuters File

Dur and Van Lent's study has used a representative dataset comprising 100,000 workers from 47 countries. The report claims Indians are top in the list of people who think their job is useless. Around 12 percent of Indian are pessimistic about their jobs, four percent more than the global average. India's workforce is followed by Poland, Japan and Israel, says the study.

The study assessed 'socially useless' term based on the responses from the workforce. Many disagreed with the statement, "My job is useful to society."

For no surprise at least in the Indian context, more private sector employees feel their job is useless than public sector workers like teachers, health workers and police officers. About 11 per cent of private sector employees working in finance, sales, marketing and public relations department think their job is futile. As per the author's understanding, this could be because many of these jobs involve harming people more than helping them.

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Apple India has collaborated with St John's National Academy of Health Sciences.Apple India Press Kit

The study further claims over 50% of socially useless jobs are taken by those who think it is important to have a socially useful job. Many are forced to take up the job that they themselves know socially useless because of the lack of job opportunities.

Alarmingly, bad managers and strict job law enforcement have risen 'socially useless jobs.' This is because job creation is mainly performed by managers. Another potential reason for the 'uselessness' in the job is the mass hiring. Many firms hire more workers than necessary during recessions resulting in 'on-the-job underemployment'.