Do you dislike your job? Join the crowd...

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If you’re lucky enough to have a job in this economy, chances are you dislike it.

Only 45% of people surveyed are happy in their jobs, according to a poll released today by the Conference Board, a New York nonprofit group. That’s the lowest level in 22 years -- when more than six in 10 people were satisfied -- and continues a years-long decline.

The survey of 5,000 Americans paints a gloomy picture of working life.

Workers across all age and income brackets are increasingly dissatisfied with everything from the nature of their positions to the quality of their bosses. And relatively few derive any intangible or psychic benefits from their work. In fact, more than 1 in 5 people don’t expect to be in the same position a year from now.

And it’s not all attributable to the recession and people being weighed down with more duties after layoffs of co-workers. Satisfaction numbers have been declining steadily through both booms and busts for much of the last two decades.

All this is bad news for companies as well as employees.

“Challenging and meaningful work is vitally important to engaging American workers,” said John Gibbons, the group’s director of employee engagement research and services. “Widespread job dissatisfaction negatively affects employee behavior and retention, which can impact enterprise-level success.”

But as my colleague David Lazarus notes, at least those who are dissatisified with their jobs are working.

-- Walter Hamilton