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Experienced Well-Being and Labor Market Status: The Role of Pleasure and Meaning

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  • Tobias Wolf

    (Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Maria Metzing

    (DIW Berlin)

  • Richard E. Lucas

    (Michigan State University)

Abstract

This paper examines the experienced well-being of employed and unemployed workers. We use the survey-adapted Day Reconstruction Method of the Innovation Sample of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study to analyze the role of the employment status for well-being, incorporating time use. We use the novel P-index to summarize the average share of pleasurable minutes on a day and show that in contrast to evaluative life satisfaction the unemployed experiences more pleasurable minutes due to the absence of working episodes. Hence, we examine working episodes in depth. While working is among the activities with the highest propensities for an unpleasant experience, it is also among the most meaningful activities. We show that meaning is a central non-monetary determinant for pleasure at work and find that pleasure during work and job satisfaction have a comparable association with meaning.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Wolf & Maria Metzing & Richard E. Lucas, 2022. "Experienced Well-Being and Labor Market Status: The Role of Pleasure and Meaning," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 691-721, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:163:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-022-02884-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-022-02884-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Thi Truong An Hoang & Andreas Knabe, 2022. "Social Contacts, Unemployment, and Experienced Well-Being. Evidence from Time-Use Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 9953, CESifo.
    2. Thi Truong An Hoang & Andreas Knabe, 2021. "Time Use, Unemployment, and Well-Being: An Empirical Analysis Using British Time-Use Data," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 2525-2548, August.
    3. Hetschko, Clemens & Knabe, Andreas & Schöb, Ronnie, 2021. "Happiness, Work, and Identity," GLO Discussion Paper Series 783, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Nikolova, Milena & Cnossen, Femke, 2020. "What makes work meaningful and why economists should care about it," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    5. Wolf, Tobias, 2020. "Welfare while working: How does the life satisfaction approach help to explain job search behavior?," Discussion Papers 2020/14, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    6. Carina Keldenich, 2022. "Work, motherhood and women’s affective well-being," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1345-1375, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Experienced well-being; Time use; Unemployment; Day reconstruction method; DRM; SOEP-IS;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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