Do Good Jobs Make Happy Employees Or Are Happy People Just Happy Regardless of Their Work?

Great question and we get the scientific answer courtesy of http://www.bakadesuyo.com

"The current meta-analysis examined the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective well-being (SWB). Consistent with the spillover hypothesis, we found positive relationships between job satisfaction and life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, and the absence of negative affect. In addition, an examination of longitudinal studies suggested that the causal relationship from SWB to job satisfaction was stronger than the causal relationship from job satisfaction to SWB."

In English, this means it is more likely someone is happy and finds something to like in their job or work than it is to find someone whose work actually changed their level of happiness.

It doesn't mean the quality of the job or the work doesn't matter. It does mean that looking for happy people to hire will pay dividends, all else equal. No surprises there, I hope.

Source: "A meta-analytic examination of the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective well-being" from Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology