More Kazakhs Working in Their Trained Fields, But Job Satisfaction Still Uneven
A growing number of Kazakh citizens are employed in professions matching their education, but overall job satisfaction remains mixed across gender, age, and region, according to a new analysis by Finprom.kz based on National Statistics Bureau (NSB) data.
In a nationwide NSB survey conducted in March 2025 among nearly 12,000 respondents aged 15 and older, 50.7% said they were completely satisfied with their jobs—up slightly from 49.9% a year earlier. Another 29.9% reported being only partially satisfied, while the share of those dissatisfied fell sharply from 3% to 0.9%.
However, 18.5% of respondents said they found the question difficult to answer or considered it inappropriate—a striking rise from 1.6% the previous year, suggesting greater uncertainty about workplace fulfillment.
Rural residents appeared more content than urban workers, with 53.9% expressing full satisfaction compared to 49.4% in cities. Dissatisfaction was higher in urban areas (1.2%) than in the countryside (0.7%).
Gender differences were also evident: 55% of men reported job satisfaction versus 48.1% of women. Women were slightly more likely to feel only partly satisfied or fully dissatisfied (1% versus 0.6% among men).
Satisfaction peaked among workers aged 29–38, with 62.5% content in their profession, but dropped to 29.5% for those over 60 and just 30.2% for those under 17.
Income proved a decisive factor—82.6% of high-income earners expressed satisfaction with their professional choice, compared with 14.8% among low-income respondents.
By mid-2025, Kazakhstan’s employed population reached 9.3 million, up 1.2% year-on-year. Of these, 7.1 million worked in their trained fields, 1.7 million in unrelated areas, and 531,700 had no formal professional training.
Urban residents were more likely to work in their area of study (83.3%) than rural workers (63.7%). In rural areas, 24.8% were employed outside their specialization, and 11.5% lacked professional qualifications.
By gender, 3.6 million men and 3.5 million women were employed in their trained fields—with a slightly higher alignment among women (77.6%) than men (74.8%).
Trade and auto repair remained the country’s top employment sector, employing 1.6 million people—a 3.3% rise year-on-year. It was followed by education (1.2 million, +2.5%), agriculture (1 million, –5.2%), transport and warehousing (676,900, +1%), and construction (638,300, –1%).
The least represented sectors included water supply, real estate, and energy supply.
