NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Most U.S. workers do not want to become managers and they cite increased stress as the most common reason, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Handling disgruntled employees, increased paperwork and having to terminate or lay off employees were the other top reasons workers shy away from management jobs, according to the survey conducted for Randstad, an employment services company.

Overall, 51 percent of people questioned said they did not want to become managers, the survey showed.

The oldest workers, those over age 64, were least likely to be interested in management, at 68 percent.

The youngest workers, ages 18 to 29, were most open to becoming managers, with just 42 percent saying no to the idea.

Among those who did want to become managers, their top reason was being able to share knowledge with others, followed by being responsible for the success of an organization and being able to influence decisions, it said.

The survey was conducted online from March 23 to April 15 among 2,199 employees and 833 managers for Randstad by Harris Interactive. The overall results had a sampling error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

(Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst; editing by Todd Eastham)