Socio-Economic Differences in the Satisfaction of High-Pay and Low-Pay Jobs in Europe

Konstantinos Pouliakas and Ioannis Theodossiou

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This paper investigates whether any significant differences in the job satisfaction of high- and low-paid workers exist in eleven European labour markets. Using data from six waves (1996-2001) of the ECHP, it is shown that low-paid employees are significantly less satisfied with their jobs compared to the high-paid in the periphery of Southern European countries, as opposed to those in the North. This evidence suggests that in the face of an increasing flexibility in labour markets, low-paid jobs in the EU are not inevitably of low quality, though in some countries low-wage workers have experienced the full brunt of both lower-paid and bad quality jobs. For these countries policies that centre on the quality of work are essential. Evidence indicates that the cross-country differences reflect the disparate manner with which the flexibility-security nexus has been confronted.

Keywords: job satisfaction; low pay; job quality; Europe; flexicurity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J28 J42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-06-06, Revised 2009-08-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:16733

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