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Public Versus Private Job Satisfaction. Is there a Trade-off between Wages and Stability?

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Abstract

This paper examines the differences in job satisfaction in the public and private sector using the Spanish Survey of Life Quality at Work throughout the period 2006–2010. We use several dimensions of job satisfaction perception (remuneration, promotion policy, time schedule, working hours, flexibility, breaks and holidays). Our results show that, at an aggregate level, public sector workers are observed to be more satisfied than those in the private sector in terms of aggregate level of job satisfaction, stability, time flexibility and holidays but not in terms of wages, work organization, independence and decision-making.

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Notes

  1. The reduction in the number of temporary contracts during crisis is linked, fundamentally, to the destruction of temporary jobs.

  2. These last two studies are focused exclusively on managers.

  3. Although survey data is available since 1999, there were some methodological changes which make data incomparable between pre and post 2006 periods. The survey was discontinued in 2011 as a result of budget cut by the government.

  4. The categories (2, 3, 4, …, 9) between the worst (=1) and the best (=10) have no words attached to them.

  5. To the extent that respondents considered the response numbers (1 to 10) as cardinal measures of their satisfaction (for example, the response 10 means twice more satisfied than the response 5), the reported values may be used as a cardinal measure of satisfaction. However, many studies have shown virtually no qualitative differences in empirical results between different treatments of the variable.

  6. We also have checked the results using using an ordered probit model instead of OLS model and the conclusions do not vary. To furher information request the authors.

  7. We use the maximum likelihood estimation of endogeneous switching and sample selection models developed by Miranda and Rabe-Hesketh (2006). The ssm command is used to evaluate the random selection. A likelihood-ratio test for rho = 0 accepts the null hypothesis so we can admit the absence of a significant sample selection problem. For an easy interpretation we only include the estimation without the selection model in the text.

  8. We have also tested the robustness of the results assuming the decomposition if we use an ordered probit model and the results are similar. Sinning et al. (2008) is followed for the decomposition for nonlinear regression models.

  9. To the extent that respondents considered the response numbers (1 to 10) as cardinal measures of their satisfaction (for example, the response 10 means twice more satisfied than the response 5) the reported values may be used as a cardinal measure of satisfaction. However, many studies have shown virtually no qualitative differences in empirical results between different treatments of the variable.

  10. See Ferrer-i-Carbonell and Frijters (2004) for a more detailed discussion on different estimation methods and the similarity in their results.

  11. According to Herzberg’s model (Herzberg 1966) this last grouping corresponds largely with intrinsic factors (features related to job content and tasks). The first two groups correspond mainly to extrinsic factors (contextual elements).

  12. In the appendix, the differences between workers in the public and private sector in aggregate terms are not included due to lack of space.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Economics Department, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Cantabria, Avda. Castros s/n, 39007, Santander, Spain

    Nuria Sánchez-Sánchez & Adolfo C. Fernández Puente

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  1. Nuria Sánchez-Sánchez
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  2. Adolfo C. Fernández Puente
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Correspondence to Nuria Sánchez-Sánchez.

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Table 8 Descriptive statistics
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Sánchez-Sánchez, N., Fernández Puente, A.C. Public Versus Private Job Satisfaction. Is there a Trade-off between Wages and Stability?. Public Organiz Rev 21, 47–67 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-020-00472-7

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