Disability and Job Satisfaction Differentials

Abstract

Introduction S tudies on employment generally focus on the participation of people in the labour force. The main purpose of such studies has been to develop strategies and programmes to promote labour market participation. To that end, previous chapters in this book have provided an examination of the nexus between disability, education, employability and occupational choice followed by wage returns on the investment in education among people of different impairment groups in different countries. However, issues regarding the employment of people with disabilities extend beyond their participation in the labour market and include their happiness derived from their level of job satisfaction. This chapter, therefore, examines job satisfaction for people with disabilities in developing countries, focusing in particular on the job satisfaction differential between different impairment groups and occupational choice differentials. To the best of my knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to compare the levels of job satisfaction among people with disabilities in developing countries. Economic literature has focused on these issues together with their effects, in terms of educational and/or skills mismatches on wages (discrimination), and job satisfaction and labour mobility for people with disabilities in general. Numerous existing studies have shown that higher-earning individuals have a greater probability of job satisfaction. This chapter attempts to explain whether these differentials are related to objective components of the jobs themselves, and whether job satisfaction differentials are affected by the types of impairments, using a survey exclusively designed to gather impairment-specific information in Nepal. Although job satisfaction is a relatively controversial variable, this chapter adopts it as a dependent variable and examines its effects when controlled by other conditions. It seeks to provide quantitative evidence of the effect of the job type that people with disabilities are involved on their job satisfaction. Based on empirical findings, this chapter discusses the significance of job satisfaction for people with disabilities, as a way to improve their workplace and access to labour market participation.