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Job Insecurity and Life Satisfaction in Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Iddisah Sulemana

    (University of Ghana)

  • Richard Osei Bofah

    (University of Ghana)

  • Edward Nketiah-Amponsah

    (University of Ghana)

Abstract

How labour market outcomes influence the life satisfaction of people have been studied by many scholars. In particular, prior studies have examined how perceived risk of losing one’s job affects one’s life satisfaction. We contribute to this literature by exploring whether fear of losing one’s job or not finding a job in Ghana influences one’s life satisfaction. We used data from Wave 6 of the World Values Survey to empirically examine whether job insecurity or fear of not finding a job was correlated with life satisfaction. Our results from OLS and logistic regressions show unambiguously that job insecurity did not exert a significant effect on life satisfaction among Ghanaians. We speculate several explanations for this finding, including the idea that the pervasiveness of the problem in Ghana may be the primary reason job insecurity was uncorrelated with life satisfaction in the country.

Suggested Citation

  • Iddisah Sulemana & Richard Osei Bofah & Edward Nketiah-Amponsah, 2020. "Job Insecurity and Life Satisfaction in Ghana," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 172-184, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:41:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10834-019-09650-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-019-09650-2
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    3. Ibrahim A. Elshaer & Alaa M. S. Azazz, 2021. "Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, Unethical Behavior in the Name of the Company: The Role of Job Insecurity, Job Embeddedness, and Turnover Intention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Kenneth Owusu Ansah & Nutifafa Eugene Yaw Dey & Abigail Esinam Adade & Pascal Agbadi, 2022. "Determinants of life satisfaction among Ghanaians aged 15 to 49 years: A further analysis of the 2017/2018 Multiple Cluster Indicator Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-18, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fear of job loss; Job insecurity; Life satisfaction; Subjective well-being; Ghana;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General

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