Macroeconomic conditions at workforce entry and job satisfaction

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine whether individual experiences at workforce entry affect later job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach - This study utilized the British Household Panel Survey for the years between 1991 and 2008. Ordered probit estimation is used for the analysis. Also fixed effect and pooled ordinary least squares methods are employed to make robustness check. Findings - The results of the analyses show that people who enter the workforce when the unemployment rate is high have less job satisfaction even in later ages compared to the ones who enter the workforce when the unemployment rate is lower. Even controlling for important factors on job satisfaction, such as industry and occupation differences, age, gender and income, the effect of workforce entry conditions on job satisfaction continues to survive. The results indicate that high unemployment has larger and longer lasting negative welfare effects than commonly predicted. Social implications - An increment in workforce entry unemployment rate causes lower job satisfaction even years later of these early workforce experiences. The results indicate that high unemployment has larger and longer lasting negative welfare effects than commonly predicted. Originality/value - The study is among the few that investigates macroeconomic experiences on job satisfaction and the first one providing evidence on the negative effect of entering the workforce in worse economic conditions on later job satisfaction.