Alfonso Sousa-Poza

Well-being at work: a cross-national analysis of the levels and determinants of job satisfaction

Abstract The aim of this paper is to analyze the levels and determinants of job satisfaction in a cross-national setting. This aim is accomplished using the latest Work Orientations data set from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). The survey was conducted in 1997 and, in this paper, data for 21 countries are used. The main results are: (i) workers in all countries are quite satisfied; this result also applies to the five Eastern European countries analyzed here. (ii) Denmark is the country with the highest job-satisfaction level. The United States is ranked seventh, Great Britain fifteenth, Japan nineteenth, and Russia twentieth. (iii) A comparison with the 1989 ISSP data set reveals that job satisfaction has declined in Germany and the United States in the 1990s. (iv) Using a bottom-up psychological model, in which we compare work-role inputs (e.g., effort) with work-role outputs (e.g., pay), we try to explain cross-national differences. Countries with high work-role outputs, in general, have a high job-satisfaction ranking, and vice versa. (v) Having an interesting job and having good relations with management are the two most important work-role outputs, and having an exhausting job is the most important work-role input. (vi) Workers in Eastern European countries tend to value high income.

Taking Another Look at the Gender/Job‐Satisfaction Paradox

Labour-market conditions are, in general, less favourable for women than for men. It is therefore paradoxical that several studies reveal that women are more satisfied at work than men. We analyse this paradox with microdata from 21 countries. It is shown that this paradox does not exist in most of the countries analysed here, and, in most cases, can be explained by the different endowments of work-role inputs (e.g., work time) and outputs (e.g., pay) between genders. In Great Britain, the United States, and Switzerland, however, this paradoxical situation remains even after controlling for differences in work-role inputs and outputs. Copyright 2000 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG

Analyzing Job Mobility with Job Turnover Intentions: An International Comparative Study

This study analyzed job-turnover intentions in twenty-five countries with data from the 1997 International Social Survey Program. Results show that high turnover intentions, measured as the proportion of employed individuals that report a very likely change of job in the next 12 months, can be observed in Canada, 17.0 percent, the U.S., 14.3 percent, and Great Britain, 14.3 percent. Low turnover intentions are encountered in Japan, 1.8 percent, Spain, 3.0 percent, and several Eastern European countries. The determinants of turnover intentions are, in a number of cases, the same as those observed in many studies on actual turnovers. Determinants of turnover intentions do vary substantially among countries. However, union membership, public-sector employment, job satisfaction, job security, and firm pride are significant in most countries. The high turnover intentions observed in Great Britain, France, and, to a lesser extent, Canada can be explained by the subjective measures considered in this study. Especially Great Britain and France have very low rankings of job satisfaction, job security, advancement opportunities, and firm pride. Despite having the same turnover intentions, Great Britain and the United States differ substantially with regard to the subjective determinants. Whereas the high turnover intentions in Great Britain can be explained by the relatively poor perceived job satisfaction, job security, and firm pride, high turnover intentions in the United States coexist with relatively high levels of job satisfaction, job security, advancement opportunities, firm pride, and, most notably, good perceived labor market opportunities.

Does Job Satisfaction Improve the Health of Workers? New Evidence Using Panel Data and Objective Measures of Health *

This paper evaluates the relationship between job satisfaction and measures of health of workers using the German Socio-Economic Panel. Methodologically, it addresses two important design problems encountered frequently in the literature: (a) cross-sectional causality problems and (b) the absence of objective measures of physical health that complement self-reported measures of health status. Not only does using the panel structure with individual fixed effects mitigate the bias from omitting unobservable personal psycho-social characteristics, but employing more objective health measures such as health-system contacts and disability addresses such measurement problems relating to self-report assessments of health status.We find a positive link between job satisfaction (and changes over time therein) and subjective health measures (and changes therein); that is, employees with higher or improved job satisfaction levels feel healthier and are more satisfied with their health. This observation also holds true for more objective measures of health. Particularly, improvements in job satisfaction over time appear to prevent workers from (further) health deterioration.

'Voluntary' and 'involuntary' early retirement: an international analysis

Recent literature makes a distinction between ‘voluntary’ and ‘involuntary’ early retirement, where ‘involuntary’ early retirement results from employment constraints rather than from a preference for leisure relative to work. This article analyses ‘voluntary’ and ‘involuntary’ early retirement based on international microdata covering 19 industrialized countries. The results show that ‘involuntary’ early retirement is particularly widespread in Continental Europe. Countries facing economic recessions and having strict employment protection legislation have higher shares of ‘involuntary’ retirements among early retirees. Generous early retirement provisions of the social security system do not only make ‘voluntary’ early retirement more attractive for individuals, but also induce firms to push more employees to retire early.

The allocation and value of time assigned to housework and child-care: An analysis for Switzerland

In this paper, data from the 1997 Swiss Labour Force Survey are used to analyse the allocation and value of time assigned to housework and child-care. It is shown that mens allocation of time to housework and child-care is largely invariant to changes in socio-economic factors. Womens allocation of time to housework and child-care, on the other hand, is shown to depend on several social, economic, and demographic factors. The value of time assigned to housework and child-care is calculated with two market replacement cost methods and three opportunity cost methods. The results show that the value of time assigned to housework and child-care ranges from 27% to 39% and from 5% to 8% of GDP (in 1997), respectively. The value of time assigned to housework and child-care is also calculated for different household structures.

An Empirical Analysis of Working-Hours Constraints in Twenty-one Countries

The aim of this paper is to analyze working-hour constraints in an international setting. We use data from the latest Work Orientations data set of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). The survey was conducted in 1997 and, in this paper, data for twenty-one countries are used. Our main results are: (1) In most countries the majority of workers do not face hours constraints; (2) Of the workers that are constrained, the largest portion is underemployed. Only in Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland is this not the case; (3) Workers in the five Eastern European countries considered here are among the most constrained; (4) A comparison with the 1989 ISSP data set reveals that hours constraints have increased in Israel, the United States, and West Germany and decreased in Great Britain and Norway in the 1990s; (5) GDP per capita and unemployment levels are correlated with hours constraints; (6) A multivariate analysis shows that certain socio-demographic characteristics and work conditions influence hours constraints and that these factors differ across countries.

Overqualification: permanent or transitory?

This article analyses job mismatches in Switzerland based on a subjective measure of overqualification. According to job search and job matching theories, overqualification is a transitory problem. Other theories show that overqualification can also be of a permanent nature. We test the perpetuity of overeducation using panel data from the first eight waves of the Swiss Household Panel (SHP) covering the period 1999 to 2006. Our empirical analysis reveals little evidence for lasting rigidities that would cause permanent job mismatches. Rather, spells of overqualification are relatively short: about half of all individuals who were overqualified in a given year had an adequate job match 1 year later. While a short duration of overqualification would be consistent with job search and job matching theories, our observation that the probability of a job mismatch does not significantly decrease with experience is at odds with these theories. Our article provides an alternative explanation for this phenomenon: the constant accumulation of experience and qualifications throughout a workers career implies that, for a good job match to be maintained, qualification-specific job requirements must increase as the worker ages. If this does not occur, even older workers face a risk of becoming overqualified.

Taxation and Internal Migration: Evidence from the Swiss Census Using Community-Level Variation in Income Tax Rates

We investigate the relationship between income tax rate variation and internal migration for the unique case of Switzerland, whose system of determining tax rates primarily at the community level results in enough variation to permit analysis of their influence on migration. Specifically, using Swiss census data, we analyze migratory responses to tax rate variations for various groups defined by age, education, and nationality/residence permit. The results suggest that young Swiss college graduates are most sensitive to tax rate differences, but the estimated effects are not large enough to offset the revenue-increasing effect of a rise in tax rate. The migratory responses of foreigners and other age-education groups are even smaller, and reverse causation seems negligible.

Maternal Employment and Childhood Obesity: A European Perspective

The substantial increase in female employment rates in Europe over the past two decades has often been linked in political and public rhetoric to negative effects on child development, including obesity. We analyse this association between maternal employment and childhood obesity using rich objective reports of various anthropometric and other measures of fatness from the IDEFICS study of children aged 2-9 in 16 regions of eight European countries. Based on such data as accelerometer measures and information from nutritional diaries, we also investigate the effects of maternal employment on obesitys main drivers: calorie intake and physical activity. Our analysis provides little evidence for any association between maternal employment and childhood obesity, diet or physical activity.