Job Satisfaction and Contingent Employment

This paper analyses job satisfaction as an aggregate of satisfaction with several job aspects, with special focus on the influence of contingent-employment contracts. Fixed-effect analysis is applied on a longitudinal sample of Dutch employees in four work arrangements: regular, fixed-term, on-call and temporary agency work. Our results indicate that temporary agency work is the only contingent employment relation that is on average associated with lower job satisfaction compared to regular workers. Decomposition of this gap indicates that the major part is due to the low satisfaction experienced by agency workers regarding the content of their jobs. A lack of job security is also responsible for part of the gap. For fixed-term and on-call workers the negative satisfaction effect originating from the lack of job security and lower wages is compensated by other job aspects and a variant relationship between total job satisfaction and its components. However, male and high educated on-call workers do experience lower job satisfaction.     

Working hours and job satisfaction in China: A threshold analysis

This study utilizes a threshold model to examine the nonlinear relationship between working hours and job satisfaction, using the open-access data of the 2018 China Family Panel Studies. We address the endogeneity of working hours utilizing an instrumental variable-based two-stage residual inclusion approach. The threshold model shows that the effects are indeed different. Working more than 9 h reduces workers' job satisfaction, and these reductions are even greater among those working more than 12 h. Heterogeneous analysis reveals that working long hours reduces the job satisfaction of female employees more than that of their male counterparts; the job satisfaction of unmarried individuals is unaffected by how long they work, whereas that of married workers declines when they work longer hours. Also, although the job satisfaction of wage-employed workers falls with an increase in the number of hours worked regardless of how long they work, that of self-employed workers falls only when they work more than 12 h. Poor physical health mediates the adverse effects of long working hours on job satisfaction. Finally, working long hours reduces individuals' short-run hedonic well-being but does not affect their perceptions and feelings towards various facets of life in the long run.     

COVID-19-associated income loss and job loss: Evidence from Indonesia

COVID-19 pandemic has substantially altered socioeconomic conditions around the world. While numerous existing studies analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among developed states, little is known about its effects on people’s lives and social discrepancies in emerging economies. To this end, we empirically analyze the 2020 Indonesian Labor Force Survey data, hypothesizing that COVID-19 has given idiosyncratic risks and impacts on people by gender, age, education, occupation and regions. We find that income loss and job loss are prominent among males, younger and less educated people as well as among self-employed and part-time non-agricultural workers. These tendencies are not pronounced for people enjoying high income and mobility, but tend to be evident for urban residents and those having dependents. Notably, self-employed people have the highest risk of losing income, while part-time urban workers face the highest probability of losing their jobs. The propensity score matching method also demonstrates that these losses are most evident for the regions susceptible to COVID-19. Overall, we suggest that socioeconomically disadvantaged groups require additional support to strengthen their resilience in the face of exogenous shocks, such as the one caused by the global coronavirus pandemic.     

The impact of firm-provided training on productivity,wages, and transition to regular employment for workers in flexible arrangements

This paper examines the incidence and density of firm-provided training for workers in flexible work arrangements – i.e., non-regular employees who are working part-time or with fixed-term employment contracts – and analyzes the effect of this training on skills, productivity, and wage growth, using a unique survey of Japanese workers. Among non-regular employees, those who work on a full-time basis are found to receive a higher density of both on-the-job training (OJT) and off-the-job training (Off-JT). Participation in firm-provided training is shown to improve job skills and productivity, but does not appear to impact the wage growth of non-regular workers. However, training participation is shown to make the transition from non-regular to regular employment in the current occupation more likely, enhancing the probability of future wage increases.     

Wages and the Composition of Experience

This paper provides evidence on the relation between alternative forms of experience and wages using data drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Prior labor market experience is segmented into mutually exclusive categories based on industry and occupation to examine how subsequent employers value skills acquired on previous jobs. We find that most forms of experience, including tenure at the current job, provide a comparable return. However, the wage return to prior experience in a different occupation and industry is significantly lower. Such “career changes” constitute over half of all prior work experience among workers in their mid-30s.     

Multiple job holding as a strategy for skills development

This study investigated the training effect of multiple job holding on the activity of main jobs. First, we developed a dual-labor supply model by adding the training effect of working second jobs. The theory showed that workers with unconstrained hours hold second jobs when they develop skills via the experience of second jobs. To verify the hypotheses from the theoretical model, the causal relationship between holding a second job and the wage rate of a main job was estimated using the Keio Household Panel Survey. Difference generalized method of moments was adopted to remove time-invariant individual effects and endogenous bias. Moreover, the estimations showed heterogeneity of main jobs in terms of length of working hours, tasks, and job turnover. Full-time workers engaged in intelligent tasks and those who did not change their jobs secured training effects from second jobs but only when the comparison group was the workers allowed to hold second jobs by their employers. It was presumed that employers paid to restrict employees’ activities. On the contrary, part-time workers engaged in physical tasks were exhausted by second jobs, which decreased the wage rate of their main jobs.     

Dual Job Holding and the Gig Economy: Allocation of Effort across Primary and Gig Jobs

This article explored motivations for allocating effort between “gig” and primary jobs using a sample of Amazon Mechanical Turk workers. We found that main job hour constraints, a commonly cited rationale for traditional moonlighting, were a motivation for men but not for women. Other factors affecting effort were also gender specific: Men were driven to spend more time on gig jobs to increase their incomes, while women were motivated by insecurity in their main job. Women, though not men, who were more depressed based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale earned less in their gig economy job. Finally, higher risk aversion reduced income from gig work for men, but not women. We concluded that motivations for effort allocated between the primary and gig jobs differ from those identified in past literature as important for traditional moonlighting decisions.     

企业内农民工工作满意度影响因素分析——基于湖南、黑龙江、浙江三省的实证研究

本文利用2005年湖南、浙江和黑龙江三省的调查数据,采用多元回归模型,对决定企业内农民工工作满意度的因素进行了实证分析。结果表明外部报酬多少、技能培训情况、打工距离及其他因素,如性别等,对农民工工作满意度的影响比较显著。     

Why do Filipinos desire to work more hours?

In 2018, 16.4 per cent of Filipino workers stated that they wanted to have more work hours in their present jobs, to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer work hours, that is, they declared themselves under-employed. Analysis of the 2015 Labor Force Survey data shows that relative to being full-time employed and not under-employed, the major determinant of being under-employed is the basic pay. Region, educational attainment, sector, and primary occupation are much less important determinants.     

Reasons for college major-job mismatch and labor market outcomes: Evidence from China

Almost a quarter of recent college graduates in China are working in jobs that are not related to their college major—mismatched—due to various reasons. In this study, combining administrative records with survey data on a large sample of college graduates from the class of 2019 in a central province of China, we provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first evidence on the effects of different types of mismatches on a variety of labor market outcomes among recent Chinese college graduates. To address the endogeneity problem associated with mismatch, we use a variety of proxies for individual ability and resources, employ the propensity score matching strategy, and use the bounding analysis to examine the extent to which our estimates are sensitive to unobserved influences. Results show that workers who are mismatched due to personal interests (interest-mismatched) have better labor market outcomes than other types of mismatched workers, as well as matched workers, in terms of higher probabilities of getting promoted and receiving on-the-job training. Of all mismatched workers, skill-mismatched workers (mismatched due to a lack of skills) and demand-mismatched workers (mismatched due to jobs in related fields being unavailable) are associated with lower probabilities of job satisfaction, promotion, and job stability. Results from identification strategies reveal some evidence of selection on observed variables and some evidence of sample selection, but our findings remain consistent and most estimates are robust to a potentially relatively large influence of unobserved heterogeneity. Further analysis demonstrates some gender differences in the estimated effects of different types of mismatches on labor market outcomes.     

Cyclical Quality Adjustment in the Labor Market

Various reasons have been put forward to explain the stylized fact that the wages of job starters are more procyclical than the wages of workers who don't change jobs. I explore the theoretical and empirical basis for one such reason: firms adjust the quality of workers assigned to jobs over the business cycle. I show that there is evidence that quality adjustment is an important feature of cyclical adjustment in labor markets. New hires of any particular ability level get lower quality jobs in recessions than in booms. The results indicate that about half of the wage procyclicality of new hires can be ascribed to variation in the matches between firms and workers over the business cycle. These systematic changes in assignment imply that government policy aimed at high-skill sectors can have positive effects on low-skill individuals by increasing the probability that they upgrade occupation and industry.     

Social networks,job satisfaction and job searching behavior in the Chinese labor market

This study first investigates determinants of job searching strategies and then examines if social networks are connected with better job outcomes. Unlike previous studies that focus solely on income, this paper pays more heed to job satisfaction. Based on data drawn from China General Social Survey, we find that disadvantaged job seekers rely primarily on informal channels; whereas experienced and better-educated job seekers tend to search for jobs through formal channels. However, those reaping the largest benefit from using networks are the job seekers who are able to use formal and informal channels jointly. By disaggregating the whole sample, we further find that the promoting effect of network use is contingent on factors such as gender and types of jobs. Network use brings about larger benefits to female and job seekers target to prestigious occupations. Finally, it appears that whether a job seeker can receive influential help depends primarily on the social status of the contacts rather than their tie strength. The results of our paper thus urge us to examine the combination of different searching strategies rather than studying them separately.     

Self-employment in urban China: Networking in a transition economy

This paper investigates the relationship between self-employment and social networks in urban China, an economy rife with informational and institutional imperfections, under-developed financial markets, but a growing and important non-state sector. Having a social network can help the self-employed access supply and credit networks, and assist in navigating an uncertain institutional environment where permissions and licenses often require inter-personal relationships to facilitate and reduce the informational costs of enforcement by dealing with known persons. Thus, holding other productive and observable traits constant including attitude toward risk where possible, social networks are expected to be a significant correlate to self-employment which is borne out by the evidence. Examining three tranches of the self-employed (those who are self-employed, those who are self-employed as a second job, and a sub-sample who have experienced unemployment and then became self-employed), the paper finds that social networks significantly predict self-employment except for those who are working for themselves as a second job. Gender differences are also notable.     

Employees who do not know their labour contract term and the implications for working conditions: Evidence from Japanese and Spanish microdata

In this paper, we analyse the relationship between employees who do not know the length of their labour contract (hereafter, DNK employees) and working conditions. In developed countries, labour standards regulations generally require employers to provide a labour contract with a clearly defined duration to protect the fundamental rights of workers. However, the data reveal that in the developed countries on which we focus, Japan and Spain, non-negligible proportions of employees, 8% and 11%, respectively, do not know the duration of their labour contracts. Utilizing 2012 data from the Employment Status Survey for Japan and the Economically Active Population Survey for Spain, we find that whether workers are ignorant of their contract term commonly depends on their human capital level. Women, single people, younger and older workers and less-educated workers are more likely not to know their labour contract duration. Compared with other employees, DNK employees are more dissatisfied with their current job, more likely to search for other jobs and less likely to seek more work in their current jobs. We find that DNK employees suffer from a wage penalty for non-standard status and have less access to job training, as occurs in Japan, and that specific attributes, such as immigrant status, tend to be closely related to DNK status, as occurs in Spain. Overall, DNK employment is related to poor working conditions, which indicates the importance of educating workers about labour laws to maintain the welfare of disadvantaged workers.     

Education and the labour market in Botswana

Using primary data from a 1993/4 Household Income and Expenditure Survey in Botswana, this article presents empirical results on occupational attainment, its determinants, and the extent of filtering down in Botswana's labour market, given changes in labour market conditions over time. It was found that the Botswana labour market has been characterised by some ‘filtering down’ of educated workers into less skilled jobs as the supply of skilled manpower exceeded demand. Those who entered the labour market earlier, those with more education, those located in the urban areas and male workers are more likely to occupy jobs that are higher up in the hierarchy than to be in an unskilled blue-collar job. Jobs higher up in the hierarchy are also more rewarding financially. The article shows that there is occupational segregation of workers by gender in Botswana's labour market in that female workers are generally confined to a narrow range of occupations. The policy implications are that employment creation has to be pursued vigorously and the issue of gender discrimination investigated further.     

The Wage and Employment Dynamics of Minimum Wage Workers

This study uses panel data to examine the wage and employment dynamics of minimum wage workers. Compared with workers earning above the minimum, minimum wage workers are much more likely to be new entrants or to exit the labor market. Changes in industry, occupation, and access to job training are particularly important to improving the wages of minimum wage workers. Many minimum wage workers earn less than their potential wage temporarily because of nonwork circumstances that make higher-paying jobs less attractive.     

Sex,Race, and Job Satisfaction Among Highly Educated Workers

There has been a considerable amount of work focusing on job satisfaction and sex, generally finding that women are more satisfied than men despite having objectively worse job conditions. But there is little evidence on whether job satisfaction differs by race or ethnicity. We use data from the 2010 National Survey of College Graduates to examine the relation between job satisfaction and race and ethnicity among Asian, black, Hispanic/Latino, and white workers. Overall job satisfaction does not differ by sex among college graduates. Relative to white workers of the same sex, Asian and black workers are far less satisfied. The lower satisfaction of Asian and black workers relative to white workers is not explained by immigrant status, job match, or other individual or job characteristics.     

Retirement policy,employment status,and gender pay gap in urban China

China’s current retirement policy has been in effect since 1978. The legal retirement age is 50 years for female workers, 55 years for female cadres, and 60 years for male cadres and workers; women can retire 5 or 10 years earlier than men. This difference in legal retirement age may affect wage growth in those approaching retirement. Based on China’s Urban Household Survey data set, this study investigated the influence of retirement age differences on the gender pay gap. From age 30 to 49 years, the wage difference between female workers and cadres increased by approximately 15 % more than that of men. After consideration of possible endogeneity problems and demonstration of the robustness of the regression results, the study determined that such differences were likely caused by gender and identity differences at retirement age. Among workers and cadres, the retirement age policy exacerbated gender differences in wages through working hours, wage rate, career promotion, and job change activity in those approaching retirement.     

Declining Self-Employment in Japan

The self-employment rate has decreased in Japan. This paper examines reasons why working householders aged below 55 avoid self-employment, focusing on age, location, and gender effects. Increasing age and living in local areas encourage householders to be self-employed. Between 1989 and 1994, however, both the age and local effects weakened, while the positions of self-employed females were not improved. We estimate earnings functions for self-employed workers and employees, controlling sample selection bias. The decline in real income of self-employed workers relative to employees particularly in metropolitan areas was more likely to prevent over-35 householders from being self-employed. J. Japan. Int. Econ., March 2002, 16(1) pp. 73–91. Faculty of Economics, Gakushuin University, 1-5-1 Mejiro Toshima-ku, Tokyo 171-8588, Faculty of Economic, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji-city, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: J23, J24, J31.     

An Analysis of Perceptions of Job Insecurity among White and Black Workers in the United States: 1977–2012

While objective measures indicate that the risk of job loss is higher for black workers than for white workers, there is little research on how what workers’ expectations of job loss differ by race. This study looks at how secure black and white workers are feeling about their jobs and how their perceptions of job insecurity have been affected by time trends and regional unemployment rates. I find that perceptions of job security of black male workers, older black workers, and black high school graduates have deteriorated relative to their white counterparts during the period 1977–2012. Among those who attended college, white workers’ perceived job insecurity has increased. Black blue-collar workers’ and construction workers’ perceptions of job insecurity also have increased relative to their white counterparts. Moreover, perceptions of job insecurity among several black groups, such as high school dropouts and old workers, are more sensitive to regional unemployment rates than their white counterparts.