Satisfaction with life and employment status : eastern and western Germany in comparison

Abstract

"Empirical studies show firstly that unemployment clearly reduces the subjectively perceived satisfaction with life compared with employment and also compared with economic inactivity; secondly eastern Germans regularly report a lower level of satisfaction with life than western Germans. On the basis of the data from the socio-economic panel for the period 1992 to 1999, this study compares the subjectively perceived satisfaction with life of eastern and western Germans, dependent on their employment status. The results indicate that the event of unemployment impairs the satisfaction with life of eastern and western German men and women clearly and to roughly the same extent. The lower level of satisfaction with life of eastern Germans can, however, only be partly explained by the higher level of unemployment and the lower incomes in eastern Germany." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Gerlach, K. & Stephan, G. (2001): Lebenszufriedenheit und Erwerbsstatus. Ost- und Westdeutschland im Vergleich. In: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Vol. 34, No. 4, p. 515-528.