Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/263576 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15360
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We use British panel data to explore the link between occupational status and life satisfaction. We find puzzling evidence, for men, of a U-shaped relationship in cross-section data: employees in medium-status occupations report lower life satisfaction scores than that of employees in either low- or high-status occupations. This puzzle disappears in panel data: the satisfaction of any man rises as he moves up the status ladder. The culprit seems to be immobility: the miserable middle is caused by men who (in our data) have always been in medium-status occupations. There is overall little evidence of a link between occupational status and life satisfaction for women.
Subjects: 
occupational status
life satisfaction
occupational mobility
JEL: 
I31
J24
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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