No one grows up saying “Someday I hope to work in a mindless job that stifles my creativity and offers no potential for growth.” But sadly many people end up in that sort of work because they lack the skills to be hired for something more challenging. But in a new study two professors from Duke University and Sterling University found that, when given the choice between equally paying jobs, one an effortless but boring position and the other “effortful” but enjoyable, some people chose the boring job. And that choice calls into question how people value their overall experience at work. Naturally it has to do with money. In the study, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior, experiments showed how wages impact a job seeker's willingness to take on more challenges. In the first experiment, 144 people answered a questionnaire offering the choice of two short-term jobs at a cultural festival. They could choose to be an usher whose responsibilities would require them to publicize the event, clean up after and escort performers. Or they could be a monitor, whose only requirement was to alert a security guard if needed. Though 82 percent said they preferred the job of usher, 36 percent would only take the job if it paid more than the monitor. "Ask someone which of two jobs they like better, and they will often pick the more interesting job, even if it requires more mental or physical effort," says David Comerford, an assistant professor at Sterling University. "But ask them how much the two jobs should pay, and now that their mind is focused on wages, they often conclude that all that extra effort ought to be rewarded, otherwise they will take the boring job." In another experiment, 74 graduate students agreed to take part in a short film. They could choose the role of worker, in which they would work on a word puzzle for about five minutes, or they could be an on-looker, in which they simply sat and watched others. As with the first test, most people found the role of worker more enjoyable (66 percent). But only 18 percent of that group agreed to solve the word puzzles regardless of whether they would make more money than the other group. In other words they’d rather get paid to watch people work on word puzzles than actually do them themselves. The researchers drew several conclusions from the study results that are significant in today’s turbulent job market. One was even when a job that would be more interesting and enjoyable than one requiring less effort, some people would “price themselves out of the job market” by they feel they need to be paid more by doing the extra effort involved in the more interesting job. Another conclusion speaks to the possibility that some people would choose to be bored and unhappy at their job in order to be paid more money. But isn’t there more to fulfillment from work than just the pay? "What these two studies showed us is if you put the issue of wages in front of people, all of a sudden that becomes a primary concern,” says Peter Ubel, a marketing professor at Duke. “They are focusing on what they perceive as fair compensation, rather than nonmonetary aspects of the job, such as social value or even whether the job is interesting."