A study examined the satisfactions and dissatisfactions of people employed in traditional and nontraditional jobs. During the project, mail questionnaires were returned by a sample of 352 residents that included both males and females employed in traditional occupations. Information was collected from the respondents regarding their sex, ethnic background, educational attainment, age, marital status, present job, length of employment in their present job, and the contribution of their salary to their total home income. While the sources of satisfaction were no different for employees in nontraditional occupations than they were for employees in traditional occupations, employees in nontraditional occupations had consistently higher mean satisfaction scores, indicating a greater degree of satisfaction. Futhermore, the five categories with the highest mean satisfaction were the same for both groups. Those who left their jobs, however, had considerably lower mean satisfaction scores for each category, a fact that could imply a misconception about job content on their part. These findings support the need for more programs, such as cooperative vocational education, providing realistic work experiences that enable students to obtain a more objective conception of the real nature of the world of work. (Appended to the report are the survey instrument and tables of data from the survey.) (MN)