Open AccessDissatisfied with Life but Having a Good Day: Time‐use and Well‐being of the Unemployed *
Author(s) -
Knabe Andreas,
Rätzel Steffen,
Schöb Ronnie,
Weimann Joachim
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.683
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1468-0297
pISSN - 0013-0133
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2009.02347.x
Subject(s) - duration (music) , feeling , life satisfaction , weighting , psychology , unemployment , social psychology , work (physics) , applied psychology , demographic economics , economics , engineering , medicine , economic growth , art , mechanical engineering , literature , radiology
We apply the Day Reconstruction Method to compare unemployed and employed people with respect to their subjective assessment of emotional affects, differences in the composition and duration of activities during the course of a day and their self‐reported life satisfaction. Employed persons are more satisfied with their life than the unemployed and report more positive feelings when engaged in similar activities. Weighting these activities with their duration shows, however, that average experienced utility does not differ between the two groups. Although the unemployed feel sadder when engaged in similar activities, they can compensate this by using the time the employed are at work in more enjoyable ways.