Whistle While You Work: Job Satisfaction and Retirement from the U.S. House

Abstract

The literature analyzing the effects of job satisfaction on congressional retirement has been inconclusive. The problem with this literature is its reliance on indirect measures of job satisfaction. We use a direct measure of job satisfaction to demonstrate that job satisfaction does have a significant independent effect on congressional retirement. The findings imply that the indirect measures of job satisfaction measure frustration as opposed to job dissatisfaction, a conceptually different variable. The fact that members' job satisfaction affects their career length suggests that a Congress that keeps its members happy will have greater retention and will, presumably, keep its best members.

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? Voluntary Retirement from Danish Local Government

“…Educational level was expected to influence voluntary retirement (Fischer & Herrick 2002, 447), but the analysis shows that this is not the case (Table 2). Women are significantly more likely to retire voluntarily (Table 2, model A).…”

“…In line with other studies, we argue that socio‐demographic variables may be a way of capturing the varying opportunity costs of a political career in local politics. These include the education and employment sectors (Keane & Merlo 2007; Fischer & Herrick 2002, 447), gender (Lawless & Theriault 2005) and age (Bernstein & Wolak 2002; Clarke 1999, 72). Accordingly, we include theses characteristics in this analysis.…”

Strategic Retirements: The Influence of Public Preferences On Voluntary Departures from Congress

“…A number of studies of House departures show that members with narrow reelection margins are more likely to retire from office (Hall and Van Houweling 1995;Hibbing 1982;Jacobson and Dimock 1994;Moore and Hibbing 1998;Theriault 1998). Other studies of House retirement fail to find significant retirement effects related to electoral security (Brace 1985;Fisher and Herrick 2002;Frantzich 1978;Groseclose and Krehbiel 1994;Kiewiet and Zeng 1993). For the Senate, Livingston and Friedman (1993) found a significant effect of electoral security on member retirements, but Bernstein and I (2002) did not.…”

Legislators Off Their Leash: Cognitive Shirking and Impending Retirement in the U.S. House*

“…Barring such circumstances, representatives are not supposed to want to retire (Hibbing, 1982) unless retirement will allow for progressive ambition (Grofman, Griffin, and Berry, 1995;Herrick and Moore, 1993;Hibbing, 1986;Schlesinger, 1966). Aside from electoral concerns, the reasoning behind retirement is generally attributed to one of several factors, including personal concerns such as age, health problems, or other circumstances that may preclude a representative from continuing in office for another term (Brace, 1985;Cooper and West, 1981;Fukumoto, 2009;Hibbing, 1982;Lawless and Theriault, 2005), political career ambition (Bullock, 1972;Fisher and Herrick, 2002;Theriault, 1998), or limitations of their current institutional standing (Lawless and Theriault, 2005).…”