Work Hour Mismatch on Life Evaluation: Full Heterogeneity and Individual- and Country-Level Characteristics of the Most and Least Affected Workers

Mismatches between workers’ actual and preferred hours of work are ubiquitous and have detrimental effects on well-being. Yet, the full heterogeneity of these effects and the characteristics of the most and least affected subpopulations remain largely unknown. This study collects survey data from 37 countries and estimates the full heterogeneity in the effects using a newly developed method—the sorted partial effect method. Based on the full heterogeneity, we employ classification analyses on the 10%-most and 10%-least affected groups and show that individuals most (vs. least) affected by overemployment are younger, while those most (vs. least) affected by underemployment are older. Age is the most influential factor that distinguishes the most and least affected workers when compared with other individual-level factors such as education level, household income, and the number of children. Country-level differences between the most and least affected groups imply that work hour mismatch is more tolerable for workers in relatively poorer countries than for workers in wealthier countries. These findings underscore age-tailored policy responses for alleviating the negative effects of work hour mismatch and provide insights for understanding the complex economic preferences across countries.