Does more money make people happier? A study of youth employment context in Indonesia

This paper explores the empirical study on the relationship between income and happiness among the young employees in Indonesia. A multi-linear regression analysis was conducted by using individual data of young Indonesian employees from the different sector of industries which were collected through an online survey. The results show that absolute income is significantly and positively associated with the individual level of happiness. However, no correlation is found between relative income and happiness. While many previous studies suggest that the relative position of income compared to the neighborhood tend to determine happiness, the study found that relative income does not matter to the individual happiness. Instead, this study contributes to the income-happiness discourse by the finding that the absolute amount of income is more critical for determining the happiness in the youth employment context in emerging country