IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sal/celpdp/021731.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Job Satisfaction, Work Characteristics, and the Gender Wage Gap in Europe: Exploring Productivity and Compensation Effects

Author

Listed:
  • Fernanda Mazzotta

    (Department of Economics and Statistics - University of Salerno - Italy and CELPE)

  • Anna Papaccio

    (Department of Political and Communication Sciences (DiSPC), University of Salerno - Italy and CELPE)

  • Lavinia Parisi

    (Department of Economics and Statistics - University of Salerno - Italy and CELPE)

Abstract

This paper examines how intrinsic and extrinsic job features influence job satisfaction and the gender pay gap in Europe, testing compensating and productivity effects. Using 2007–2020 SHARE data, random effects probit and wage models, and a gender-specific Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, we find women earn about 26% less than men, yet report similar satisfaction levels, providing no evidence of a gender satisfaction paradox. Enhancing intrinsic job quality—career prospects, recognition, and autonomy—raises satisfaction and aligns with higher productivity outcomes. Productivity and compensating effects differ by gender and region, reflecting structural and cultural inequalities across European labour markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernanda Mazzotta & Anna Papaccio & Lavinia Parisi, 2025. "Job Satisfaction, Work Characteristics, and the Gender Wage Gap in Europe: Exploring Productivity and Compensation Effects," CELPE Discussion Papers 175, CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy.
    • Handle: RePEc:sal:celpdp:021731
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a
    for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management

    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:sal:celpdp:021731. 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: Roberto Dell'Anno (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesalit.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.