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Temporary Employment, Informal Work and Subjective Well-Being Across Europe: Does Labor Legislation Matter?

Author

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  • Tatiana Karabchuk

    (UAE University)

  • Natalia Soboleva

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

Abstract

Taking the individual data from the European Social Survey of 2004 and 2010, the authors of this paper investigate how employment type (permanent, temporary or informal employment) affects subjective well-being in respect to employment protection legislation across European countries. Our study outcomes are in line with previous research disclosing the negative impact of being temporally or informally employed on subjective well-being. The additional contribution of this study is the rigorous analysis of how employment protection legislation (EPL) moderates this effect by applying the multilevel modeling approach for 27 countries. In countries with strict EPL temporary and informal workers are significantly less satisfied with their lives than permanent employees. In countries with liberal EPL no significant decreasing effect from temporary or informal employment on people’s subjective well-being was found.

Suggested Citation

  • Tatiana Karabchuk & Natalia Soboleva, 2020. "Temporary Employment, Informal Work and Subjective Well-Being Across Europe: Does Labor Legislation Matter?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(5), pages 1879-1901, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:21:y:2020:i:5:d:10.1007_s10902-019-00152-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-019-00152-4
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    2. Scheuring, Sonja & Voßemer, Jonas & Baranowska-Rataj, Anna & Tattarini, Giulia, 2021. "Does Fixed-Term Employment Have Spillover Effects on the Well-Being of Partners? A Panel Data Analysis for East and West Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22(7), pages 3001-3021.
    3. Sonja Scheuring, 2020. "The Effect of Fixed-Term Employment on Well-Being: Disentangling the Micro-Mechanisms and the Moderating Role of Social Cohesion," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 91-115, November.

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