Occupational status and life satisfaction in the UK: The miserable middle?

Yannis Georgellis (y.georgellis@gmail.com), Andrew Clark, Emmanuel Apergis and Catherine Robinson (c.robinson6@brighton.ac.uk)
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Emmanuel Apergis: University of Huddersfield

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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 those 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 have always been in medium-status occupations. There is overall little evidence of a link between occupational status and life satisfaction for women, although this relationship for higher-educated women does look more like that for men.

Keywords: Occupational status; Life satisfaction; Occupational mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-12
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Published in Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2022, 204, pp.509-527. ⟨10.1016/j.jebo.2022.10.045⟩

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Related works:
Journal Article: Occupational status and life satisfaction in the UK: The miserable middle? (2022)
Working Paper: Occupational status and life satisfaction in the UK: The miserable middle? (2022)
Working Paper: Occupational Status and Life Satisfaction in the UK: The Miserable Middle? (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-03957226

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.10.045

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