Replication: Emotional well-being and unemployment – Evidence from the American time-use survey

Hoang, Thi Truong An; Knabe, Andreas

doi:10.1016/j.joep.2021.102363

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, we find that unemployment, albeit insignificant, is associated with greater time-weighted happiness for both genders. Though these results do not agree with Krueger & Mueller (2012), who find that the unemployed report more sadness, these results do agree with the results by Knabe et al (2010) concerning Germany, results by Dolan et al (2017) and Hoang & Knabe (2020: 2021 concerning the United Kingdom and United States, as well as results by Flèche & Smith (2017) for France. Unfortunately, given the small sample sizes available in the 1985 data, estimates are less precise for this time-period (see columns 1 and 4).…”

Section: 4contrasting

confidence: 75%

Time use and happiness: Evidence across three decades

Han

Kaiser²

2021

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We use diary data from representative samples of Americans to examine historical trends in happiness at both the individual activity-level and aggregate-level. At the activity-level, domestic work and social care produce more happiness today compared to 1985. Watching TV produces less happiness than it used to. At the aggregate level, we combine information on happiness and time allocation to construct a measure of 'time-weighted happiness'. Over the last 35 years, women's time-weighted happiness has improved significantly relative to men's. This observation is in stark contrast to previous work which showed a decline in women's relative wellbeing. To explain this, we compare the determinants of life satisfactiona more global measure on which most previous work is builtwith our measure of time-weighted happiness. Time-weighted happiness and life satisfaction turn out to only be weakly correlated. Moreover, although we obtain strong associations of income and employment status with life satisfaction, no such associations can be observed for time-weighted happiness. Thus, the determinants and historical patterns of momentary happiness and more global measures fail to coincide. This highlights the importance of distinguishing and striking a balance between these wellbeing measures when analysing and designing policy.

show abstract

Section: 4contrasting

confidence: 75%

Time use and happiness: Evidence across three decades

Han

Kaiser²

2021

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Panel studies utilizing retrospective assessments of AWB indicated that unemployment has negative effects on sadness, happiness, and anxiety (von Scheve et al, 2017) as well as mood (Hentschel et al, 2017). Contrarily, studies that measured AWB with the experience sampling method (ESM, Hektner et al, 2007) or the day reconstruction method (DRM, Kahneman et al, 2004), which are less prone to recall biases compared to classical questionnaires, found no systematic effects of unemployment on various AWB facets (Dolan et al, 2017;Hoang & Knabe, 2021;Lawes, Hetschko, Schöb, et al, 2022;Wolf et al, 2022).…”

Section: Unemployment and Subjective Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining interindividual differences in unemployment-related changes in subjective well-being: The role of psychological well-being and re-employment expectations

Lawes¹,

Hetschko²,

Schöb³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Individuals differ in how they react to unemployment. Yet, research on sources of interindividual differences in unemployment-related well-being changes is still in its infancy. Using monthly panel data of initially employed German jobseekers, this study examined whether the six trait-like dimensions of psychological well-being (PWB, e.g., autonomy, environmental mastery) buffer the negative effects of unemployment on various facets of subjective well-being (SWB). Further, re-employment expectations during unemployment and the reason for job loss (mass layoffs and plant closures vs. other reasons) were considered as central contextual features of unemployment.The results indicate substantial interindividual differences in unemployment-related changes across all examined SWB facets. However, dimensions of PWB did generally not moderate the effects of unemployment on SWB. Still, good re-employment prospects were related to increases in several well-being facets (e.g., leisure satisfaction, feeling awake) compared to being employed, whereas poor re-employment prospects were associated with particularly detrimental effects in terms of life satisfaction and income satisfaction. Overall, the study provides further evidence that contextual features of unemployment are particularly relevant for how individuals experience unemployment, whereas internal (coping) resources only seem to play a negligible role.

show abstract

“…The average scores of tiredness, stress, sadness and pain suggest, however, that the unemployed even experience lower negative affect than the employed. Hoang and Knabe (2021) show that the differences between the studies by Krueger and Mueller (2012) and Dolan et al (2017) critically depend on the definition of unemployment, i.e., whether or not long-term unemployed workers and voluntarily unemployed workers are included, and if specific emotions or aggregate well-being measures are analyzed. The wider the definition of unemployment the more favorable appears the average emotional well-being of the unemployed.…”

Section: Identity Utilitymentioning

confidence: 98%

Happiness, Work, and Identity

Hetschko

Knabe

Schoeb

2021

Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This chapter introduces identity utility to the study of (un)employment and (un)happiness. The concept is described in terms of an augmented utility function, the implications of which are assessed in light of the empirical literature on unemployment and well-being. Studies on unemployed persons' affective and cognitive well-being allow assessing the importance of the loss of identity utility relative to other nonmonetary consequences of joblessness, such as fewer social contacts and a lack of a structure in daily life. Unlike life satisfaction, unemployment leaves affective well-being mostly unaffected, which points to a major relevance of the loss of identity. This view is corroborated further by studies on the importance of the social norms to work and be self-reliant for the life satisfaction of the unemployed, as well as by studies showing the positive life satisfaction effect of retirement on unemployed workers. Based on this strong evidence for identity utility losses of unemployed persons, the notion of identity utility is used to explain heterogeneity in the effect of unemployment on life satisfaction. It is also linked to further consequences of unemployment, such as social exclusion and stigmatization. Moreover, this chapter uses identity utility to assess the likely effectiveness of labor market policies in alleviating the misery of the unemployed. Finally, research on work, happiness and identity is reconciled with a more standard economics view on labor supply based on studies examining the impact of working hours on workers' well-being.

show abstract

Replication: Emotional well-being and unemployment – Evidence from the American time-use survey

Cited by 14 publications

References 16 publications

Time use and happiness: Evidence across three decades

Time use and happiness: Evidence across three decades

Examining interindividual differences in unemployment-related changes in subjective well-being: The role of psychological well-being and re-employment expectations

Happiness, Work, and Identity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About