Economic Sector and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

In this article the relationship between economic sector and job satisfaction is explored. Given the absence of previous research, a framework relying on job satisfaction, dual labor market, and economic-segmentation literature is used to create two alternative hypotheses. If the externally defined objective characteristics of jobs are the critical factor in producing job satisfaction, then the “better” jobs in the core sector will result in job satisfaction differences favoring workers in the core. If individual needs and characteristics and the “fit” between these and job rewards are the critical factors in producing job satisfaction, then the workers in the core do not necessarily have an advantage; in fact the reverse may be true. These two hypotheses are tested using data from the 1973 Quality of Employment survey and two alternate measures of economic sector. Findings support the second hypothesis in that workers in the peripheral (or local and regional) sector have significantly higher levels of reported job satisfaction than those in the core (or monopoly) sector. We conclude that researchers need to consider economic sector as a source of variation in job satisfaction in addition to more conventional structures at the job and organizational level. Paradoxically, a consideration of economic sector may contribute to our understanding of the processes by which individual characteristics and job characteristics combine to create satisfied workers.