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Job satisfaction and disability: lower expectations about jobs or a matter of health?

  • Regular Article
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Spanish Economic Review

Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis of the reported differentials of job satisfaction for disabled and non-disabled individuals. Using the Spanish data of the European Community Household Panel during the period 1995–2001, we estimate a job satisfaction equation for each group and evaluate job satisfaction differentials through the Oaxaca-Blinder methodology. The results show that disabled individuals are more likely to be more satisfied in their jobs than non-disabled ones, but only after controlling for other variables. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition shows the greater importance of the returns in job satisfaction for disabled people, which is supported by explanations based on the lower expectations about jobs of disadvantaged groups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Estructura Económica, Universidad de Málaga, Plaza de El Ejido s/n, 28071, Málaga, Spain

    Ricardo Pagán

  2. University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Miguel Ángel Malo

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  1. Ricardo Pagán
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  2. Miguel Ángel Malo
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Correspondence to Ricardo Pagán.

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Pagán, R., Malo, M.Á. Job satisfaction and disability: lower expectations about jobs or a matter of health?. Span Econ Rev 11, 51–74 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10108-008-9043-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10108-008-9043-9

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