While all jobs have the potential to gratify, some provide more gratification than others.  According to a newly released survey from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, these are the most and least gratifying jobs with the percentage of those who were satisfied within the group: 

Most gratifying jobs:

Clergy—87 percent
Firefighters—80 percent
Physical therapists—78 percent
Authors—74 percent
Special education teachers—70 percent
Teachers—69 percent
Education administrators—68 percent
Painters and sculptors—67 percent
Psychologists—67 percent
Security and financial services salespersons—65 percent
Operating engineers—64 percent
Office supervisors—61 percent

Least gratifying jobs:

Laborers, except construction—21 percent
Apparel clothing salespersons—24 percent  
Hand packers and packagers—24 percent
Food preparers—24 percent
Roofers—25 percent
Cashiers—25 percent
Furniture and home-furnishing salespersons—25 percent
Bartenders—26 percent
Freight, stock and material handlers—26 percent
Waiters and servers—27 percent

Of course, gratification is often in the eye of the worker and directly tied to expectations.  No job will ever be 100% gratifying if that’s all you do.  The key is to do a good job, but to structure your life to include a variety of interests.