Life satisfaction and self-employment in different types of occupations

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics: prevalence of occupational groups among paid employees and the self-employed.

	White collar and high skilled (%)	White collar and low skilled (%)	Blue collar and high skilled (%)	Blue collar and low skilled (%)
Paid employees	24.4	43.5	24.1	8.0
Self-employed	17.5	24.9	40.3	17.4

Table 2. Marginal effects of occupational characteristics on the probability of being ‘very satisfied’ based on ordered probit regressions.

	(1)	(2)	(3)
Paid employees	Reference		Reference
Self-employed	0.017*** (0.003)	–	0.022*** (0.003)
White-collar and high-skilled labour	–	Reference	Reference
White-collar and low-skilled labour	–	−0.017*** (0.003)	−0.016*** (0.003)
Blue-collar and high-skilled labour	–	−0.027*** (0.004)	−0.030*** (0.003)
Blue-collar and low-skilled labour	–	−0.039*** (0.005)	−0.043*** (0.005)
Control variables	Included	Included	Included
Region fixed effects	Included	Included	Included
Time fixed effects	Included	Included	Included
Observations	50,908	50,908	50,908

Notes: Robust SEs in parentheses; ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.10.

Table 3. Marginal effects of occupational characteristics on the probability of being ‘very satisfied’: eight occupational groups.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)
White collar and high skilled
Paid employee	Reference	−0.018** (0.007)	0.017*** (0.003)	−0.010 (0.006)	0.029*** (0.004)	0.013** (0.005)	0.046*** (0.005)	0.016** (0.008)
Self-employed	0.018** (0.007)	Reference	0.035*** (0.007)	0.008 (0.009)	0.047*** (0.008)	0.031*** (0.008)	0.064*** (0.009)	0.035*** (0.010)
White collar and low skilled
Paid employee	−0.017*** (0.003)	−0.035*** (0.007)	Reference	−0.027*** (0.006)	0.012*** (0.003)	−0.004 (0.005)	0.029*** (0.005)	−0.001 (0.008)
Self-employed	0.010 (0.006)	−0.008 (0.009)	0.027*** (0.006)	Reference	0.039*** (0.006)	0.023*** (0.007)	0.056*** (0.007)	0.026*** (0.010)
Blue collar and high skilled
Paid employee	−0.029*** (0.004)	−0.047*** (0.008)	−0.012*** (0.003)	−0.039*** (0.006)	Reference	−0.016*** (0.005)	0.017*** (0.005)	−0.013 (0.008)
Self-employed	−0.013** (0.005)	−0.031*** (0.008)	0.004 (0.005)	−0.023*** (0.007)	0.016*** (0.005)	Reference	0.033*** (0.006)	0.003 (0.009)
Blue collar and low skilled
Paid employee	−0.046*** (0.005)	−0.064*** (0.009)	−0.029*** (0.005)	−0.056*** (0.007)	−0.017*** (0.005)	−0.033*** (0.006)	Reference	−0.030*** (0.009)
Self-employed	−0.016** (0.008)	−0.035*** (0.010)	0.001 (0.008)	−0.026*** (0.010)	0.013 (0.008)	−0.003 (0.009)	0.030*** (0.009)	Reference
Personal characteristics	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included
Region fixed effects	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included
Time fixed effects	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included
Observations	50,908	50,908	50,908	50,908	50,908	50,908	50,908	50,908

Notes: Robust SEs in parentheses ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.10; full table including marginal effects of personal characteristics is available upon request.

Table

Collar type	White collar	Legislators, senior officials and managers (Code 1), professionals (Code 2), technicians and associate professionals (Code 3). Clerks (Code 4) and service workers and shop and market sales workers (Code 5)
	Blue collar	Skilled agricultural and fishery (Code 6) workers and craft and related trades workers (Code7). Plant and machine operators (Code 8) and assemblers and elementary occupations (Code 9)
Skill level	High skilled	Legislators, senior officials and managers (Code 1), professionals (Code 2), technicians and associate professionals (Code 3). Skilled agricultural and fishery (Code 6) workers and craft and related trades workers (Code7)
	Low skilled	Clerks (Code 4) and service workers and shop and market sales workers (Code 5). Plant and machine operators (Code 8) and assemblers and elementary occupations (Code 9)

Table

Variable	Type	Categories
Dependent variable
Life satisfaction	Ordinal	Not at all satisfied; not very satisfied; fairly satisfied; very satisfied
Job characteristics
Occupation	Binary	Self-employed; paid employees
Collar type	Binary	White-collar; blue-collar
Skill level	Binary	High-skilled; low-skilled
Demographics
Gender	Binary	Male; female
Age group	Categorical	15–24; 25–39; 40–54; 55+
Socio-economic characteristics
Marital status	Categorical	Single or unmarried; divorced, widowed or separated; married
Number of children in the household	Categorical	No children; 1 child; 2 children or more
Education (to age)	Categorical	Less than 15; 15–20 years; more than 20 years; No full-time education
(Perceived) financial situation of the household	Ordinal	Very bad; rather bad; rather good; very good
(Perceived) personal job situation	Ordinal	Very bad; rather bad; rather good; very good

Table

	N	Mean	SD	Min	Max
Dependent variable
Life satisfaction	50,908	2.95	0.77	1	4
Job characteristics
Self-employed	50,908	0.16	0.36	0	1
White-collar	50,908	0.64	0.48	0	1
High-skilled	50,908	0.50	0.50	0	1
Demographics
Female	50,908	0.48	0.50	0	1
Age groups (reference = 15–24)	50,908	0.37	0.48	0	1
25–39 years old
40–54 years old		0.40	0.49	0	1
55+ years old		0.17	0.37	0	1
Socio-economic characteristics
Marital status (reference = single)	50,908	0.11	0.31	0	1
Divorced/Separated/Widowed
Married		0.66	0.47	0	1
Number of children in household (reference = 0 children)	50,908	0.19	0.39	0	1
One child
2 or more		0.18	0.39	0	1
Education (to age) (reference = 15–20 years)	50,908
16–19 years		0.52	0.50	0	1
>20 years		0.37	0.48	0	1
No full-time education		0.01	0.11	0	1
Financial situation household (reference = very bad financial situation)	50,908
Rather bad financial situation		0.26	0.44	0	1
Rather good financial situation		0.57	0.49	0	1
Very good financial situation		0.10	0.31	0	1
Personal job situation (reference = very bad job situation)	50,908
Rather bad job situation		0.20	0.40	0	1
Rather good job situation		0.56	0.50	0	1
Very good job situation		0.18	0.38	0	1