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Long Work Hours and Job Satisfaction: Do Overworkers Get Trapped in Bad Jobs?
Author(s) -
Fabian Mark,
Breunig Robert
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/ssqu.12648
Subject(s) - overwork , job satisfaction , work (physics) , labour economics , demographic economics , working hours , limit (mathematics) , phenomenon , work hours , workload , psychology , business , economics , social psychology , management , engineering , mechanical engineering , mathematical analysis , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics
Objective Motivated by a literature suggesting that people are getting “trapped” working long hours in jobs that they dislike, we investigate the relationship between overwork, job satisfaction, and job change. Methods We use panel data to follow overworkers who are dissatisfied with both their hours and their jobs overall, and fixed effects modelling to analyze the determinants of overwork. Results We find that while overworkers might be dissatisfied with their hours they are otherwise pleased with their jobs. The few overworkers who get trapped in unsatisfying jobs are typically low educated and work in jobs characterized by rigid hour requirements. Such workers may require experience to command high wages, which may increase their opportunity cost of job change and limit their outside options and job mobility. Conclusion We conclude that “trapped”, dissatisfied over‐workers are a rare phenomenon peculiar to a find industries.