The impact of the pandemic and labor shortages has brought the issue of job satisfaction to the forefront of public discussion. Within the scientific community, this topic has been under investigation for a long time. A notable finding emerges when examining job satisfaction across genders: despite women earning less than men, they consistently report higher job satisfaction.
This observation persists even when comparing a woman and a man whose jobs have similar characteristics and are similar in other personal characteristics. The scientific literature has coined this phenomenon the “paradox of the contented female worker.”
How can the apparent satisfaction of women in lower-paying jobs be explained? In a new IZA discussion paper, Christian Bredemeier, Patrick Ndlovu, Suncica Vujić and Roland Winkler propose a novel hypothesis to explain this seeming paradox. They argue that the alignment of an employee’s preferences with the nature of their job is a pivotal factor.
Some workers may appreciate a team-oriented work environment, while others may be more interested in a more competitive work atmosphere. Consequently, workers with varying preferences may exhibit disparate satisfaction levels within the same workplace. For example, a company fostering a team-oriented work environment would experience high satisfaction among employees who prefer such an environment, while more competitively oriented colleagues would be less satisfied.
Secondary earners may choose more satisfying jobs
The study posits that women are more likely than men to choose employment opportunities that align more closely with their preferences. The authors attribute this to the typical household roles of men and women. A household’s decision-making process between opting for a better-compensated job and one that aligns with personal preferences is influenced by the relative earnings of both spouses.
When one assumes the primary responsibility for the household income, the job choice decision leans towards selecting a position with a higher salary at the expense of giving up appreciated non-pay job attributes. By contrast, individuals who take the role of secondary earner are more likely to prioritize personal preference over higher income.
Statistically, women are mostly secondary earners in their households. According to the researchers’ theory, this pattern leads to more frequent decisions of women in favor of jobs that align with personal preferences and higher job satisfaction. At the same time, this pattern leads to a strengthening of existing differences in earnings between men and women.
Job satisfaction gap among married couples with children
To test their theory, the authors analyze a combination of survey and tax data from over 5,000 Canadians, linking their information about job satisfaction with household income. The empirical findings align closely with the theory. On average, observed women report significantly higher job satisfaction than men, even after accounting for the average impact of individual and workplace characteristics.
However, this disparity in job satisfaction is not present in all population groups. It is distinctly evident within married couples with children and a traditional division of roles, where the male partner contributes more than half of the household income. In contrast, there are no discernible gender differences in job satisfaction among singles, childless couples, and couples with a less traditional division of roles. This underscores the pivotal role family decisions and within-family earner roles play in shaping an employee’s job satisfaction.