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The Impact of Job Quality on Wellbeing: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan

Author

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  • Damir Esenaliev

    (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)

  • Neil T. N. Ferguson

    (International Security and Development Center)

Abstract

Income and hours worked are insufficient to measure job quality yet these domains dominate literature aimed at understanding its relationship with wellbeing. More so, literature considering job quality in any manner has an overwhelming tendency to look at advanced economies, despite “decent work” being a key policy aim of many agencies and organisations working in emerging countries. This article tests the validity of the concept of job quality as a determinant of welfare in the developing world by generating four six-component indices using bespoke and unique data collected in Kyrgyzstan. Cross-sectional analysis of the performance of these indices against ones comprising only income and hours worked show no relationship between job quality and wellbeing in the latter case but a strong and positive relationship in the former. Jointly, this shows both the importance of more suitably measuring job quality in all contexts and the importance of policy objectives that aim to stimulate better, as well as more, jobs in the developing world.

Suggested Citation

  • Damir Esenaliev & Neil T. N. Ferguson, 2019. "The Impact of Job Quality on Wellbeing: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 337-378, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:144:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-018-1998-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-018-1998-9
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    2. Adolfo C. Fernández Puente & Nuria Sánchez-Sánchez, 2023. "The Impact of the Different Dimensions of Job Quality on Job Satisfaction in the Public and Private sector. What is Wrong with the Social Environment?," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    3. Christian Kamenga Mapurita, 2020. "Job Quality and Well-Being: Evidence from DR Congo," 2020 Papers pma2952, Job Market Papers.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job quality; Decent jobs; Kyrgyzstan; Multidimensional indices; Weighting; Subjective wellbeing; Development economics; Labour economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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