Gender-Job Satisfaction Differences across Europe: An Indicator for Labor Market Modernization

Purpose – The primary objective of this study is to test whether gender differences in job satisfaction are assignable to variations in labour market and welfare state regimes in the light of gender-related labour market modernization. Design/methodology/approach – Using data derived from the European Household Community Panel (EHCP) and covering 14 member states of the European Union the study constructs a series of summary statistics to lay the foundation for the analysis. An ordinary ordered-probit regression model is employed to test for the (non-) emergence of a gender-job satisfaction paradox. Findings – The results suggest that objective (socio-economic and institutional) determinants of labour market status and subjective (assessed and evaluated) perspectives are mutually complementary. The more restrictive the labour market access and process is for women, the more likely a gender-job satisfaction paradox is to emerge in any country. Equal opportunities for women and men (such as those observed in Scandinavian countries) indicate that the gender-job satisfaction paradox does not appear anymore due to a fading-out process over past decades, which was driven by appropriate institutional labour market interventions. Originality/value – The gender-job satisfaction paradox was confirmed for the UK, whereas little has been done to test this hypothesis on a cross-national basis. This investigation thus fills the gap in the empirical literature