IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/crm/wpaper/26026.html

In Their Own Words: What Workers Like and Dislike about their Jobs

Author

Listed:
  • Michele Belot
  • Xiaoying Liu
  • Vaios Triantafyllou

Abstract

This paper provides novel evidence on the key drivers of job satisfaction. We ask individuals to describe, in their own words, what they like and dislike about their jobs. These open-ended questions allow us to capture what comes to mind most naturally. We analyze the resulting free-text responses using GPT-4 to identify and classify categories of job amenities. Our main study draws on a sample of 500 full-time U.S.-based employees aged 30 to 55. We find that flexible work arrangements, workplace relationships, and autonomy consistently rank among the most valued aspects of work, while poor workplace relationships, long work hours, and heavy workloads dominate the list of dislikes and rank above factors such as pay. Our approach offers a fresh lens on what job amenities workers are most satisfied and dissatisfied with.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Belot & Xiaoying Liu & Vaios Triantafyllou, 2026. "In Their Own Words: What Workers Like and Dislike about their Jobs," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 26026, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    • Handle: RePEc:crm:wpaper:26026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rfberlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/26026.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • C88 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Other Computer Software

    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:crm:wpaper:26026. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Moritz Lubczyk or Matthew Nibloe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cmucluk.html .

    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.