Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/216435 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13123
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Preferences for monetary and non-monetary job attributes are important for understanding workers' motivation and the organization of work. Little is known, however, about how those job preferences are formed. We study how macroeconomic conditions when young shape workers' job preferences for the rest of their life. Using variation in income-per-capita across US regions and over time since the 1920s, we find that job preferences vary in systematic ways with macroeconomic conditions. Recessions create cohorts of workers who give higher priority to income, whereas booms make cohorts care more about job meaning, for the rest of their life.
Subjects: 
preferences for job attributes
experience
macroeconomic condition
generational dierence
JEL: 
D9
E7
J2
M5
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
860.97 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.