SINGAPORE'S job market may have rebounded, but that has not translated into satisfied employees - particularly among Gen X and women. One of the most worrying trends identified by the "What's Working?" Mercer survey was the low level of job satisfaction among employees from Generation X.

Aged 35 to 44, the survey highlighted this group as being "crucial to a company's leadership pipeline and business performance".

However, this group of potential leaders was found to be the most unhappy age segment in the country. Just over half of them indicated being satisfied with their jobs at 55 per cent, as compared to nearly three-quarters of those aged 16 to 24 at 72 per cent. Even the older workers aged 45 to 54 were much happier than Generation X, with 66 per cent declaring job satisfaction.

Generation X also had the smallest sense of commitment to their organisations among all age groups at a mere 51 per cent. Possible reasons for this negative attitude include a lack of satisfactory monetary compensation. Only 35 per cent of respondents in that age group reported being content with their base pay, as compared to 52 per cent for those aged 16 to 24.

In a similar vein, female employees were more unhappy than their male counterparts when it came to being engaged in their work. Only 36 per cent were satisfied with their base pay, 10 percentage points less than for men. Furthermore, less than half of the women felt committed to their organisations as compared to 60 per cent of the men.

However, despite their dissatisfaction, fewer women actually seriously considered leaving their jobs. Only 35 per cent thought of doing so as compared to 46 per cent of the men.

Nevertheless, this posed a problem for employers as discontented employees are likely have lower levels of productivity. Close to 1,000 workers in Singapore took part in the Mercer study, which ran from Q4 2010 to Q2 2011.