Low Pay, Higher Pay and Job Satisfaction within the European Union: Empirical Evidence from Fourteen Countries

Luis Diaz-Serrano () and José Vieira

No 1558, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We examine differences in job satisfaction between low- and higher-paid workers within the European Union (EU). To do so The European Community Household Panel Data covering the period 1994-2001 is used. Our results indicate that low paid workers report a lower level of job satisfaction when compared with their higher paid counterparts in most countries, except in the UK. This supports the idea that low-wage employment in these countries mainly comprises low quality. The results also indicate that gap in average job satisfaction between low- and higher-paid workers is markedly wider in the Southern European countries than in the rest of EU. Finally, there are significant differences in the determinants of job satisfaction across countries. It seems then that a homogeneous policy may be inappropriate to increase satisfaction, and hence labour productivity, in the EU as a whole. Hence, an improvement of the quality of the jobs in the EU may require different policies. In particular, in some countries such as the United Kingdom removing low employment, namely through regulation, may worsen the workers’ well-being, although in other cases such a policy may lead to a totally different outcome.

Keywords: low-wage employment; job quality; job satisfaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2005-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-eec and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (32)

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Working Paper: Low-pay higher pay and job satisfaction within the European Union: empirical evidence from fourteen countries (2005)
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