IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/labour/v17y2003i4p489-518.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Age, Cohort, and the Slump in Job Satisfaction among West German Workers

Author

Listed:
  • Hendrik Jürges

Abstract

. Using German panel data, I examine the long‐term development in satisfaction with work from 1984 until 2001. As was the case for many other industrialized countries, Germany witnessed a sharp decline in workers’ self‐reported job satisfaction in the late 1980s and 1990s, the reason of which is yet unknown. I present a cohort analysis of job satisfaction using various identifying assumptions to examine several explanations for this phenomenon: pure cohort effects, a decrease in self‐reported job security, an increase in stress at work and a deterioration in other job conditions, and possible survey artefacts such as interviewer or repeated measurement effects. However, none of these can explain the overall decline in job satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Hendrik Jürges, 2003. "Age, Cohort, and the Slump in Job Satisfaction among West German Workers," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 17(4), pages 489-518, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:17:y:2003:i:4:p:489-518
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1121-7081.2003.00250.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1121-7081.2003.00250.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1121-7081.2003.00250.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Neumark, 2000. "Changes in Job Stability and Job Security: A Collective Effort to Untangle, Reconcile, and Interpret the Evidence," NBER Working Papers 7472, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Freeman, Richard B, 1978. "Job Satisfaction as an Economic Variable," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 135-141, May.
    3. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2001. "The Changing Distribution of Job Satisfaction," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 36(1), pages 1-30.
    4. Shields, Michael A. & Ward, Melanie, 2001. "Improving nurse retention in the National Health Service in England: the impact of job satisfaction on intentions to quit," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 677-701, September.
    5. Allen, Jim & van der Velden, Rolf, 2001. "Educational Mismatches versus Skill Mismatches: Effects on Wages, Job Satisfaction, and On-the-Job Search," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 434-452, July.
    6. Clark, Andrew E., 1997. "Job satisfaction and gender: Why are women so happy at work?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 341-372, December.
    7. Andrew E. Clark, 1996. "Job Satisfaction in Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 189-217, June.
    8. Alfonso Sousa‐Poza & Andrés A. Sousa‐Poza, 2000. "Taking Another Look at the Gender/Job‐Satisfaction Paradox," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 135-152, May.
    9. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J. & Warr, Peter B., 1994. "Is job satisfaction u-shaped in age ?," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 9407, CEPREMAP.
    10. Greene, W., 2001. "Estimating Econometric Models with Fixed Effects," New York University, Leonard N. Stern School Finance Department Working Paper Seires 01-10, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business-.
    11. George A. Akerlof & Andrew K. Rose & Janet L. Yellen, 1988. "Job Switching and Job Satisfaction in the U.S. Labor Market," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(2), pages 495-594.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Francis Green & Nicholas Tsitsianis, 2004. "Can the Changing Nature of Jobs Account for National Trends in Job Satisfaction?," Studies in Economics 0406, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    2. Benno Torgler, 2011. "Work Values in Western and Eastern Europe," Working Papers 2011.94, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    3. Y Georgellis & J G Sessions & N Tsitsianis, 2005. "Self-Employment Longitudinal Dynamics: A Review of the Literature," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 10(2), pages 51-84, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Getinet A. Haile, 2015. "Workplace Job Satisfaction in Britain: Evidence from Linked Employer–Employee Data," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 29(3), pages 225-242, September.
    2. Sadettin Haluk Citci & Nazire Begen, 2017. "Workforce Entry Conditions and Job Satisfaction," Working Papers 2017-03, Gebze Technical University, Department of Economics.
    3. Vicente Royuela & Jordi Suriñach, 2013. "Quality of Work and Aggregate Productivity," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 37-66, August.
    4. Heather Dickey & Verity Watson & Alexandros Zangelidis, 2011. "Job satisfaction and quit intentions of offshore workers in the UK North Sea oil and gas industry," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 58(5), pages 607-633, November.
    5. Artz, Benjamin & Taengnoi, Sarinda, 2016. "Do women prefer female bosses?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 194-202.
    6. Vasilios D. Kosteas, 2011. "Job Satisfaction and Promotions," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 174-194, January.
    7. J Taylor & S Bradley & A N Nguyen, 2003. "Job autonomy and job satisfaction: new evidence," Working Papers 541528, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    8. Francesco Bartolucci & Aleksandra Baschina & Giovanni S. F. Bruno & Olga Demidova & Marcello Signorelli, 2015. "Determinants of Job Satisfaction in Young Russian Workers," Discussion Papers 7_2015, CRISEI, University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
    9. Joni Hersch & Jean Xiao, 2016. "Sex, Race, and Job Satisfaction Among Highly Educated Workers," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(1), pages 1-24, July.
    10. repec:lan:wpaper:1021 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Bauer, Thomas K., 2004. "High Performance Workplace Practices and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 1265, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Laetitia Hauret & Donald R. Williams, 2017. "Cross-National Analysis of Gender Differences in Job Satisfaction," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 203-235, April.
    13. Grip Andries de & Sieben Inge & Stevens Fred, 2006. "Vocational Versus Communicative Competencies as Predictors of Job Satisfaction," ROA Research Memorandum 004, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    14. de Grip, A. & Sieben, I.J.P. & Stevens, F.C.J., 2006. "Vocational versus communicative competencies as predictors of job satisfaction : pharmacy assistants at the interface of professional and commercial work," ROA Research Memorandum 3E, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    15. Justina A. V. Fischer & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2008. "Personality, Job Satisfaction and Health - The Mediating Influence of Affectivity," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 144(III), pages 379-435, September.
    16. Anthea Long, 2005. "Happily Ever After? A Study of Job Satisfaction in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(255), pages 303-321, December.
    17. Clark, Andrew E., 1999. "Are wages habit-forming? evidence from micro data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 179-200, June.
    18. Husam Sadig, 2014. "Determinants Of Subjective Job Satisfaction In Developing Countries: Contrasting Managers And Regular Employees," Economy & Business Journal, International Scientific Publications, Bulgaria, vol. 8(1), pages 1250-1255.
    19. Aysit Tansel & Saziye Gazîoglu, 2014. "Management-employee relations, firm size and job satisfaction," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 35(8), pages 1260-1275, October.
    20. G. S. F. Bruno & F. E. Caroleo & O. Dessy, 2014. "Temporary Contracts and Young Workers’ Job Satisfaction in Italy," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, in: Miguel Ángel Malo & Dario Sciulli (ed.), Disadvantaged Workers, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 95-120, Springer.
    21. J Taylor & S Bradley & A N Nguyen, 2003. "Relative pay and job satisfaction: some new evidence," Working Papers 541451, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:17:y:2003:i:4:p:489-518. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csrotit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.