Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/35656 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 3940
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper uses repeated cross-section data ISSP data from 1989, 1997 and 2005 to consider movements in job quality. It is first underlined that not having a job when you want one is a major source of low well-being. Second, job values have remained fairly stable over time, although workers seem to give increasing importance to the more social aspects of jobs: useful and helpful jobs. The central finding of the paper is that, following a substantial fall between 1989 and 1997, subjective measures of job quality have mostly bounced back between 1997 and 2005. Overall job satisfaction is higher in 2005 than it was in 1989. Last, the rate of self-employment has been falling gently in ISSP data; even so three to four times as many people say they would prefer to be self-employed than are actually self-employed. As the self-employed are more satisfied than are employees, one consistent interpretation of the above is that the barriers to self-employment have grown in recent years.
Subjects: 
Employment
unemployment
self-employment
life satisfaction
job quality
job satisfaction
JEL: 
J21
J28
J3
J6
J81
L26
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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