IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dah/aeqsjb/v135_y2015_i4_q4_p413-428.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

UnfairWage Perceptions and Sleep: Evidence from German Survey Data

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Pfeifer

Abstract

The author uses large-scale German survey data for the years 2009, 2011 and 2013 in order to analyze the nexus between the individual perception of being unfairly paid and measures for quantity and quality of sleep, namely, hours of sleep during workweek and during weekend, happiness with sleep, and sleep disorders diagnosed by a doctor. Main findings of the regression analysis are that workers, who perceive their own wage as unfair, sleep significantly less during the workweek (1.2 to 2.5 percent), are significantly less satisfied with their sleep (1 to 5 percent) and are significantly more likely to have sleep disorders (7 to 36 percent). Moreover, workers with more weekly working hours sleep significantly less during the workweek (0.1 to 0.2 percent per hour) and are significantly less satisfied with their sleep (0.1 percent per hour). The size of the hourly wage is however not significantly correlated with any of the sleep outcomes and the household income seems also of minor importance, even though the estimated coefficients have the expected signs implied by substitution and income effects. The overall results suggest that unfair wage perceptions, which are related to stress, negatively affect workers’ sleep and, consequently, their health.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Pfeifer, 2015. "UnfairWage Perceptions and Sleep: Evidence from German Survey Data," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 135(4), pages 413-428.
  • Handle: RePEc:dah:aeqsjb:v135_y2015_i4_q4_p413-428
    DOI: 10.3790/schm.135.4.413
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3790/schm.135.4.413
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3790/schm.135.4.413?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Antillón, Marina & Lauderdale, Diane S. & Mullahy, John, 2014. "Sleep behavior and unemployment conditions," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 22-32.
    2. George A. Akerlof & Janet L. Yellen, 1990. "The Fair Wage-Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(2), pages 255-283.
    3. Buxton, Orfeu M. & Marcelli, Enrico, 2010. "Short and long sleep are positively associated with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease among adults in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(5), pages 1027-1036, September.
    4. Hoffman, Emily P, 1977. "The Deeper Economics of Sleeping: Important Clues toward the Discovery of Activity X," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(3), pages 647-649, June.
    5. Andrew E. Clark & David Masclet & Marie Claire Villeval, 2010. "Effort and Comparison Income: Experimental and Survey Evidence," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 63(3), pages 407-426, April.
    6. Schneck, Stefan, 2014. "My Wage is Unfair! Just a Feeling or Comparison with Peers?," Review of Behavioral Economics, now publishers, vol. 1(3), pages 245-273, May.
    7. Armin Falk & Fabian Kosse & Ingo Menrath & Pablo Emilio Verde & Johannes Siegrist, 2014. "Unfair Pay and Health," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 715, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    8. Felix M. Kersting & Christian Pfeifer, 2013. "Unfair wahrgenommene eigene Entlohnung, Arbeitszufriedenheit und Kündigungsabsicht: Empirische Evidenz auf Basis des SOEPs," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 133(4), pages 511-538.
    9. Pierre Brochu & Catherine Armstrong & Louis-Philippe Morin, 2012. "The ‘trendiness’ of sleep: an empirical investigation into the cyclical nature of sleep time," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 891-913, October.
    10. Knudsen, Hannah K. & Ducharme, Lori J. & Roman, Paul M., 2007. "Job stress and poor sleep quality: Data from an American sample of full-time workers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 1997-2007, May.
    11. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Paul Frijters, 2004. "How Important is Methodology for the estimates of the determinants of Happiness?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(497), pages 641-659, July.
    12. AndrewE. Clark & Nicolai Kristensen & Niels Westergård-Nielsen, 2009. "Job Satisfaction and Co-worker Wages: Status or Signal?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(536), pages 430-447, March.
    13. Christian Pfeifer, 2014. "Determinants of fair own wage perceptions: the moderating effect of works councils and performance evaluations," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 47-50, January.
    14. Biddle, Jeff E & Hamermesh, Daniel S, 1990. "Sleep and the Allocation of Time," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 922-943, October.
    15. Gert G. Wagner & Joachim R. Frick & Jürgen Schupp, 2007. "The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) – Scope, Evolution and Enhancements," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 127(1), pages 139-169.
    16. Kristen Monaco & Lindy Olsson & Justin Hentges, 2005. "Hours Of Sleep And Fatigue In Motor Carriage," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(4), pages 615-624, October.
    17. Szalontai, Gabor, 2006. "The demand for sleep: A South African study," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 854-874, September.
    18. Rees, Albert, 1993. "The Role of Fairness in Wage Determination," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(1), pages 243-252, January.
    19. Gideon Yaniv, 2004. "Insomnia, biological clock, and the bedtime decision: an economic perspective," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, January.
    20. Christian Pfeifer & Stefan Schneck, 2012. "Relative Wage Positions and Quit Behavior: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(1), pages 126-147, January.
    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. D'Ambrosio, Conchita & Clark, Andrew E. & Barazzetta, Marta, 2018. "Unfairness at work: Well-being and quits," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 307-316.
    2. Kuhn, Andreas, 2015. "The Individual Perception of Wage Inequality: A Measurement Framework and Some Empirical Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 9579, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Chadi, Cornelia, 2023. "Too stressed to sleep? Downsizing, job insecurity and sleep behavior," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    4. Andreas Kuhn, 2020. "The individual (mis-)perception of wage inequality: measurement, correlates and implications," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 2039-2069, November.
    5. Neugart, Michael & Yildirim, Selen, 2020. "What determines perceived income justice? Evidence from the German TwinLife study," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).

    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. Christian Pfeifer, 2018. "An Empirical Note On Commuting Distance And Sleep During Workweek And Weekend," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 97-102, January.
    2. Bishop, James, 2015. "No Rest for the Weary: Commuting, Hours Worked, and Sleep," MPRA Paper 62162, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Costa-Font, Joan & Fleche, Sarah & Pagan, Ricardo, 2024. "The labour market returns to sleep," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Chadi, Cornelia, 2023. "Too stressed to sleep? Downsizing, job insecurity and sleep behavior," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    5. Akay, Alpaslan & Martinsson, Peter & Ralsmark, Hilda, 2019. "Relative concerns and sleep behavior," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 1-14.
    6. Costa-Font, Joan & Flèche, Sarah, 2020. "Child sleep and mother labour market outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    7. Joan Costa-Font & Sarah Flèche, 2018. "Child Sleep and Maternal Labour Market Outcomes [Discussion Paper Series]," Working Papers halshs-03204629, HAL.
    8. Alan T. Piper, 2016. "Sleep duration and life satisfaction," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 63(4), pages 305-325, December.
    9. Costa-Font, Joan & Flèche, Sarah, 2017. "Parental sleep and employment: evidence from a British cohort study," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69530, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Sedigh, Golnaz & Devlin, Rose Anne & Grenier, Gilles & Deri Armstrong, Catherine, 2017. "Revisiting the relationship between wages and sleep duration: The role of insomnia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 125-139.
    11. Jara-Díaz, Sergio R. & Rosales-Salas, Jorge, 2020. "Time use: The role of sleep," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1-20.
    12. Giuntella, Osea & Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2016. "If You Don't Snooze You Lose: Evidence on Health and Weight," IZA Discussion Papers 9773, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Bell, David N.F. & Hart, Robert A., 2010. "Retire Later or Work Harder?," IZA Discussion Papers 4720, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Panos, Georgios A. & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2010. "Unionism and Peer-Referencing," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-122, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    15. Billari, Francesco C. & Giuntella, Osea & Stella, Luca, 2018. "Broadband internet, digital temptations, and sleep," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 58-76.
    16. Budría, Santiago & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada, 2012. "Income Comparisons and Non-Cognitive Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 6419, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Welsch, Heinz & Kühling, Jan, 2015. "Income comparison, income formation, and subjective well-being: New evidence on envy versus signaling," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 21-31.
    18. D'Ambrosio, Conchita & Clark, Andrew E. & Barazzetta, Marta, 2018. "Unfairness at work: Well-being and quits," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 307-316.
    19. Wunder, Christoph & Heineck, Guido, 2013. "Working time preferences, hours mismatch and well-being of couples: Are there spillovers?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 244-252.
    20. Mohrenweiser, Jens & Pfeifer, Christian, 2019. "Firms' Wage Structures, Workers' Fairness Perceptions, Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data," IZA Discussion Papers 12821, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    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:dah:aeqsjb:v135_y2015_i4_q4_p413-428. 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: E-Publishing-Team (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.duncker-humblot.de .

    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.