Are happy people more employable? Evidence from field experiments

ABSTRACT

This novel study investigated the response of the labour market to employee happiness. Two field experiments examined the role of happiness in the hiring process. We found that including a personal happiness statement in the curricula vitae significantly increases employer callbacks for men. Strikingly, women do not enjoy the same happiness premium.

KEYWORDS:

• Happiness
• employment
• gender discrimination
• job market efficiency

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• I31
• J01

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ In Israel, 27 is typical age at graduation.

² A public college in Israel.

³ The largest university in Israel.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ruppin Academic Center internal funding.