Introduction

Work, especially wage or salaried work, is one of the most important roles performed by humans in our modern time, and it has a direct effect on our physical, intellectual, and psychological well-being (Drobnič et al., 2010; Chang, 2014; Pacek et al., 2019). People spend around half of their waking time performing tasks related to their jobs (Chang, 2014). So, it is expected that people’s satisfaction with their jobs would affect their overall well-being. In fact, it has been found that job satisfaction is positively correlated with overall life satisfaction (Bowling et al., 2010; Judge & Watanabe, 1993; Özsoy at al., 2014), where being satisfied with one’s job would spill over to their overall life satisfaction (Drobnič at al., 2010). Job satisfaction has been used extensively as a measure of workers’ well-being (Demoussis & Giannakopoulos, 2007). Freeman (1978) and Hamermesh (2001) pointed out the value of the survey responses to job satisfaction questions in labor market analysis. In fact, job satisfaction survey responses have been used as a dependent variable in studies aiming at investigating its determinants (e.g., Borjas, 1979; Clark et al., 1996; Clark & Oswald, 1996; Clark, 1996, 1997; Clark at al., 2009; Gazioglu & Tansel, 2006; Kalleberg & Loscocco, 1983; Lévy-Garboua & Montmarquette, 2004), and as an independent variable explaining several labor market behaviors such as job quits (e.g., Akerlof at al., 1988; Clark, 2001; Freeman, 1978; Heywood et al., 2002), absenteeism (Clegg, 1983), and counterproductive behavior such as industrial sabotage (Mangione & Quinn, 1975).

Locke (1969) defines job satisfaction as the pleasurable emotional state that result from the evaluation of one’s job. For Hamermesh (2001), job satisfaction entails an evaluation made by the worker of all the job’s aspects. Also, job satisfaction is a function of the interaction between personal characteristics and job-related characteristics (Locke, 1969). Hence, job satisfaction differences are expected to be found across different labor market sectors in which working conditions and work environment differ. For instance, different levels of job satisfaction are expected to be found between public and private sectors as the determinants of job satisfaction especially job attributes (e.g., work schedule, job security, remuneration and promotion policy, and type and content of work) are different between the two sectors (Ghinetti, 2007; Sánchez-Sánchez & Fernández Puente, 2021). Public sector jobs are usually attached with favorable working conditions and public sector workers are usually exposed to a less stressful work environment. Hence, it is theoretically argued that there would be a public-private job satisfaction differential (Ghinetti, 2007). In fact, queuing for public sector jobs is seen as a reflection of the public-private job satisfaction differential or premium that result from the favorable working conditions in the public sector (Ghinetti, 2007; Heywood et al., 2002). For instance, public sector workers work fewer hours, and have higher job security and stability when compared to their private sector counterparts. Public sector workers work less hours compared to their private sector counterparts and longer work hours have a negative effect on employees’ well-being (Ryu & Bae, 2020). In addition, public sector workers are more job secured since they hold tenured jobs, and they enjoy strong legal protections compared to private sector workers. For instance, public sector workers are less likely to get laid off or fired (Luechinger et al., 2010; Ryu & Bae, 2020). Job insecurity has been found to have a negative effect on job satisfaction and the psychological well-being of employees (Witte, 1999). On the other hand, remuneration could be higher in the private sector (Sánchez-Sánchez & Fernández Puente, 2021). Pay in the private sector could be linked to performance and this is not usually the case in the public sector. Still, linking pay with performance could have two contrasting effects on job satisfaction. First, it could increase employee’s job satisfaction because of increased earnings and because such work environment could make the worker feel that hard work and effort are rewarded (Artz, 2008). On the other hand, performance pay could decrease job satisfaction because of the increased effort, and the greater stress and payment risk that comes with it (Artz, 2008). In contrast, public jobs are perceived to be less risky compared to private sector jobs. So, it might be the case that public sector jobs draw those who are risk-averse or those who are easily satisfied (see, Heywood et al., 2002). Some workers could be ready to exchange wages with other favorable working conditions according to their tastes (Ghinetti, 2007). For instance, in the Spanish context, it was found that there is a trade-off between satisfaction with job stability and satisfaction with pay among public sector workers (Sánchez-Sánchez & Fernández Puente, 2021).

The theoretical arguments made regarding public-private job satisfaction differential have been tested in a number of empirical country case studies. For example, when compared to their private sector counterparts, public sector employees were found to be more satisfied with their jobs in several contexts, including Portugal (Vieira, 2005), Greece (Demoussis & Giannakopoulos, 2007), Turkey (Özsoy et al., 2014), Italy (Ghinetti, 2007), the US (DeSantis & Durst, 1996), France and Britain (Clark & Senik, 2006), and Spain (Sánchez-Sánchez & Fernández Puente, 2021). But despite these favorable findings for the public sector, the case cannot be made that public sector workers would always report higher job satisfaction when compared to their private sector counterparts regardless of the socio-political, political economic, and cultural context of the reference country (Sánchez-Sánchez & Fernández Puente, 2021). Thus, the public-private job satisfaction relationship might show difference in different contexts (Sánchez-Sánchez & Fernández Puente, 2021). For instance, no significant difference in well-being (operationalized as life satisfaction) was found between public and private sector workers in the South Korean case (Ryu & Bae, 2020). Also, although public-private job satisfaction differential was reported in the British context in two case studies (Artz, 2008; Clark & Senik, 2006), this differential was eliminated once fixed effects were controlled for (Heywood et al., 2002). Heywood et al. (2002) argued that the greater satisfaction reported by public workers is due to sorting, i.e., those who are easily satisfied are sorted into the public sector. Hence, controlling for individual fixed effects eliminate this job satisfaction premium in the public sector (Heywood et al., 2002).

This study aims to investigate the public-private job satisfaction differential in the case of Egypt. In fact, public-private job satisfaction differential in the Egyptian context is documented in extant descriptive studies (Barsoum, 2015; Barsoum & Abdalla, 2020). So, the main goal of this study is to explain such a differential. This study makes three main contributions to literature. First, it is the first multivariate analysis to investigate the public-private job satisfaction differential in the case of Egypt. Barsoum (2015) investigated this issue using only descriptive statistics and for a specific age group. Second, this study is the first to investigate the determinants of job satisfaction in the Egyptian labor market. Third, the study contributes to the literature concerned with the effect of public spending including public sector hiring on subjective well-being especially in the less developed countries context. As it was shown above, most of the country case studies that investigate the same question focus on Western industrial countries. Hence, we believe that this study provides valuable contribution to the literature on the topic in the context of less developed countries. Most of the empirical studies on the public-private job satisfaction differential are based on a case study approach. Hence, the generalization of the findings of these studies should be treated with caution. Despite that, we believe that the results of our study could be extended to other Middle Eastern countries that show high similarities with Egypt in terms of welfare state trajectories and labor market characteristics especially the high share of public sector employment and the generous benefits enjoyed by public sector workers compared to their private sector counterparts.

The paper is organized as follows. The following section will provide a background on the Egyptian context. Then, we discuss the data and methods used in our analysis. Following that, we present our analyses and discuss the findings. Finally, we offer concluding remarks.

A Background on the Public Sector Employment in Egypt

Authoritarian regimes in Arab countries have historically used public sector employment as a political tool to appease and control salient groups as part of an authoritarian bargain that was struck between these regimes and their citizens after the independence of these countries (Ali & Elbadawi, 2012; Amin et al., 2012; Assaad, 2014, 2018; Assaad & Barsoum, 2019). In fact, Egypt had a long-established policy that guaranteed public employment to all university and vocational secondary school graduates (Assaad, 1997, 2005; Eibl, 2020; Kawamura, 2022). This led some scholars to describe public sector employment in Egypt as a social welfare policy (Kawamura, 2022). But the public sector hiring, as well as other welfare benefits, have been subject to retrenchment and downsizing measures due to fiscal pressures and budgetary unsustainability that predated the implementation of the structural adjustment program at the start of the 1990s (Assaad, 2005, 2018; Assaad & Barsoum, 2019). Among the group of comparable Arab countries, Egypt witnessed the highest reduction in the size of the public sector in total employment, mainly resulting from the slowdown in hiring new workers. The share of public sector jobs out of total job opportunities obtained by educated new entrants in the labor force dropped from as high as 75–80% in the mid-1970s to around 25–35% in the 2010s (Assaad & Barsoum, 2019). Despite that, the share of public sector employment in total employment in Egypt and other Arab countries is still high compared to other comparable middle-income countries. For example, the public sector represented about 25% of total employment in Egypt in the 2000s compared to 8% in Indonesia, 15% in Turkey, and 17% in Malaysia (Assaad & Barsoum, 2019).

The slowdown of public sector hiring in Egypt led to an interesting characteristic in this sector: the aging of its workforce. For example, the proportion of those aged 45 and older increased from 40% in 2000 to 53% in 2014 (Assaad & Barsoum, 2019). The slowdown of public sector hiring has also impacted female labor market participation. Despite rising educational attainment among Egyptian women, their unemployment likelihood is four times that of young men (Amin et al., 2012). Also, only half of the highly educated females enter the labor market (Amin et al., 2012). Such a paradox of increasing educational attainment and low labor market participation has been explained by the slowdown in public sector hiring (Assaad et al., 2020). The public sector is considered the employer of choice and the main employment sector for Egyptian female workers, especially the educated among them (Assaad et al., 2020; Barsoum, 2021). The formal private wage sector did not absorb all the educated new entrants who could no longer find public sector jobs. Hence, the main consequence for educated Egyptian women was either to stay unemployed or to withdraw from the labor market instead of accepting jobs in the informal private sector which has become the employer of last resort for most men (Assaad et al., 2020).

Despite this slowdown, and even suspension, of hiring in the public sector, it is widely observed that the public sector has been and continues to be the preferred sector of employment in Egypt, especially among educated youth (Barsoum, 2016; Barsoum & Abdalla, 2020; Murata, 2014). Assaad (2018:7442) argues that in Arab countries, “the significant advantages that come along with a public sector job and the closed nature of formal private employment has fed a continued strong preference for public sector employment on the part of job seekers, despite the declining probability of obtaining such employment in many contexts”. In fact, educated Egyptian youth entering the labor market prefer to wait for a public sector job rather than joining the private sector, where most of the available job opportunities are in the informal sector and provide almost no benefits and no job security (Assaad, 1997; Amin et al., 2012).

Statistics from different surveys show how Egyptians prefer a job in the public sector over a career in the private sector if they have the option to choose. For example, in the seventh round of the World Values Survey (WVS), conducted in Egypt in 2018, about 72% of the respondents reported that they would prefer to work as employees in the public sector, while 6% and 22% reported that they prefer to work in the private sector or be self-employed, respectively. Similarly, the fourth round of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) for 2018 confirms this high preference among Egyptians to work in the public sector. About 74.3% of the respondents reported that they would prefer to work in the public sector compared to 7% showing preference for a private sector job, while 18.7% reported no difference in their preference. The first explanation for this high preference for public sector jobs is related to non-wage factors such as job security attached to a public sector job which is considered a lifetime job (Assaad, 1997; Amin et al., 2012). A second explanation is the public-private wage differential (see Amin et al., 2012; Murata, 2014). As Assaad (2014:7) puts it, “given the significant differential in compensation in favor of the public sector, it is no wonder that both youth and adults in the MENA region express strong preference for public sector employment in opinion surveys”. Another explanation is the attachment of several benefits to public sector jobs, including social and health insurance and sick and paid leaves. Analyzing the ELMPS data, Roushdy and Selwaness (2015) showed that the percentage of the socially insured workers in the public sector stood at 92.4% in 2012 compared to only 24.2% in the private sector. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, the shorter workday, safe work environment, and female-related benefits such as maternity leave make public sector jobs more attractive to female workers in Egypt (Amin et al., 2012; Barsoum, 2021). Taking all of this into consideration, it is not surprising that public sector workers in Egypt report higher job satisfaction levels compared to their private sector counterparts.

Data and Methods

This study employs a cross-sectional research design. The fourth wave of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) for 2018 is used in this study. The job satisfaction group of questions were only asked in the latest two waves of the survey (2012 and 2018). We limit our analysis to the 2018 wave of the ELMPS. The ELMPS is a nationally representative survey that is being conducted in cooperation between the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). The survey covers a national sample of households and all household members aged six years and above (see Krafft et al. (2021) for more information on the ELMPS 2018). The sample included 15,746 households and 61,231 individuals. We use the dataset of individuals in our analysis. All our subsequent analyses are limited to regular-wage workers (either permanent or short-term employment). We chose to only focus on regular workers to have two comparable groups as best as we can especially that public sector workers in Egypt are mainly regular workers and irregular workers would be mainly concentrated in the private sector sample. Also, all our subsequent analyses use weighted data.

Given the ordinal nature of our dependent variables (i.e., job satisfaction of 4 is not twice job satisfaction of 2), the Ordered Probit technique is used to fit the data. In fact, the Ordered Probit technique has become the default method in empirical work investigating determinants of job satisfaction. All the nine job satisfaction measures included in the survey are on a 1–5 scale where 1 means “fully dissatisfied” and 5 means “fully satisfied”. The main independent variable in our analysis is the sector of employment which is a dummy variable that takes two values: public and private. The public category is constructed by collapsing the government and state enterprises categories. Following extant empirical job satisfaction literature, we control for personal characteristics, job attributes, and fringe benefits (see Clark, 1996, 1997; Clark et al., 1996). We include a quadratic term on age as it is documented in the literature that there is a U-shaped relationship between age and job satisfaction (see Clark et al., 1996). The description of all the variables used in our analysis is provided in Appendix A.

Results and Discussion

Table 1 shows the difference in mean reported levels of job satisfaction and percentage of those reporting being highly satisfied between public sector employees and their private sector counterparts. As expected, there is a significant difference between the means of the two groups for all nine job satisfaction measures included in the survey. For instance, the mean overall job satisfaction is 4.57 for public sector workers compared to 3.92 for private sector workers. Similar high differences could be observed if we look at the lower panel of Table 1 which shows the differences in the percentage of those reporting being highly satisfied (category five on the satisfaction scale). In the case of the overall job satisfaction measure, the percentage of public sector workers who report being highly satisfied is 63.93% compared to 26.4% in the case of the private sector.

Table 1 Differences in means and percentage of highly satisfied
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Such significant differences in reported satisfaction levels between public and private sector employees could explain why Egyptians queue for public sector jobs (see Assaad, 1997). The question now is whether this difference could be accounted for by other determinants of job satisfaction including personal characteristics, job-related characteristics, and fringe benefits. In fact, extant descriptive literature argues that the differences in fringe benefits and working conditions could be the main explanation for the public-private job satisfaction differential in the case of Egypt (see Barsoum & Abdalla, 2020). It could be true that the main factors that account for the high preference showed by Egyptians for public sector jobs could also be the possible explanations for the job satisfaction differential. As was discussed previously in the second section, these factors include non-wage factors (e.g., job security), public-private wage differential, and generous fringe benefits. Table 2 shows considerable differences in the levels of those factors between the two sectors especially when it comes to job security, measured by a contract dummy, and fringe benefits. The highest difference is found in the case of health insurance. About 91.67% of public sector employees have access to health insurance compared to only 18.37% of the private sector workers. The difference is still high for other job benefits, including social insurance, sick leave, and paid vacation. Also, there is a considerable difference between the two sectors in terms of job security. For instance, only 23.69% of the private sector employees have a contract with their employer compared to 89.74% in the public sector.

Table 2 Differences in job benefits and promotion opportunities between the two sectors
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We run a few Ordered Probit regressions to find out if the public-private job satisfaction differential could be accounted for by other determinants of job satisfaction. Following Clark (1996, 1997), we restrict our analyses to three measures of job satisfaction: overall job satisfaction, satisfaction with pay, and satisfaction with the type of work. Clark (1997) explained, the scope of these three measures is broad. Satisfaction with pay represents satisfaction with an extrinsic aspect of the job while satisfaction with the type of work captures satisfaction with an intrinsic aspect, and finally, the overall job satisfaction measure summarizes satisfaction with all aspects of the job (Clark, 1997).

We report our multivariate analyses in Table 3. Model (1) in the table shows a first-order correlation between each of the three job satisfaction measures and the sector of employment. There is a significant public-private job satisfaction differential for the three measures. In the second model of all the three job satisfaction measures, we control for the confounding variables. The inclusion of personal characteristics, job-related characteristics, and fringe benefits does account for part of the public-private job satisfaction differential. But public and private sector workers with identical personal and job characteristics and benefits still report significantly different levels of job satisfaction. This result also holds for the other six domain job satisfaction measures, as reported in Appendix B. Since the ordered probit coefficients are not interpretable, we report the predicted probabilities of the highly satisfied category in Table 4. As the results of the table show, the predicted probability of the public sector worker to report being highly satisfied is still higher compared to private sector workers even after holding all the control variables at their means. This is the case for the overall job satisfaction measure and for all the domain job satisfaction measures. For instance, in the case of the overall job satisfaction measure, the predicted probability of being highly satisfied is 44% for the public sector compared to 38% for the private sector.

Table 3 Ordered probit regressions: job satisfaction measures and sector of employment
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Table 4 Predicted probabilities of the highly satisfied - all control variables are held at their mean values
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It could be the case that there are other unobserved factors that could account for this remaining difference in job satisfaction levels between public and private sector employees. Such factors could include pecuniary aspects such as the rent-seeking and corruption opportunities at both higher and lower levels of the bureaucratic structure in Egypt (see Assaad, 1997, 2018). In fact, it is not uncommon in the Egyptian public sector to find employees who do not go to their public sector job and still receive their salary at the end of the month. Also, the shorter workday and the lower workload of the public sector job allow public sector employees to seek another job after the end of the workday. The unobserved factors might also include non-pecuniary aspects of the job such as the friendly social climate and the lower level of effort, i.e., lower workload. The social climate is of importance, especially since competition between coworkers is expected to be lower among public sector employees as the progress of careers in the public sector is mainly governed by seniority and internal bylaws. Hence the working environment is expected to be less conflicting and less stressful (see Ghinetti, 2007). Unfortunately, we are not able to control for these speculated explanations due to data limitations. In fact, such data would not be easy to collect due to the sensitivity of the questions.

Interestingly, wages follow the same pattern of job satisfaction, where wages in the public sector are higher than in the private sector. For the sample of regular wage workers, the average 3-month wage is 6957.7 Egyptian pounds (390.73 USD in the 2018 exchange rate) in the private sector compared to 9553.6 Egyptian pounds (536.51 USD) in the public sector. Hence, it could be argued that the Egyptian labor market could be best characterized by wage rents rather than compensating differences since public sector jobs are not only pleasant but are also better paid compared to private sector jobs (see Clark & Senik, 2006).

Other Determinants of Job Satisfaction

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first multivariate study to consider job satisfaction in the Egyptian labor market; hence we will briefly comment on the other determinants of job satisfaction based on the results reported in Table 3.

Personal Characteristics

Female workers appear to be more satisfied with their jobs compared to men. This result agrees with evidence reported in other empirical literature from other contexts (Clark, 1996, 1997; Demoussis & Giannakopoulos, 2007; Ghinetti, 2007). But we believe this result is mainly driven by females in the public sector, considering their better working conditions and the more convenient work environment compared to workers in the private sector in general and women specifically. We will be able to test this hypothesis in the analysis which will be reported later regarding the determinants of job satisfaction for the public and private sector workers separately. The U-shaped relationship between job satisfaction and age is found in the case of satisfaction with pay and satisfaction with the type of work measures but not in the case of the overall job satisfaction measure. As expected, and as reported in previous empirical literature, health is positively related to satisfaction with the type of work and satisfaction with pay, but the results are insignificant for the overall job satisfaction measure. Those with a university degree show lower overall job satisfaction likelihood compared to lower educational attainment levels - this finding follows the results of previous literature (Clark, 1997; Heywood et al., 2002).

Job-related Characteristics

The income variable is positively correlated with all three job satisfaction measures. The working hours variable is positively correlated with satisfaction with pay, but the results are insignificant for the overall job satisfaction and satisfaction with the type of work measures. Commuting time to work harms all three job satisfaction measures. Those who hold jobs attached with promotion opportunities show higher satisfaction likelihood compared to those who hold positions that provide no promotion opportunities. Those holding permanent jobs are more satisfied with their jobs compared to holders of temporary jobs - this result is a typical finding in the job satisfaction literature (Clark & Senik, 2006). Those whose job requires them to supervise others are more satisfied with their jobs overall and with the type of work they do. This result is expected as supervision is an indication of higher occupational class, and hence it is assumed to be positively related to not just job satisfaction but also overall life satisfaction (see Drobnič at al., 2010). Being a union member is not significantly different from being a non-union member. This result is expected in the Egyptian context as the state controls trade unions (Amin et al., 2012; Kawamura, 2022). Trade unions in Egypt do not play the same role found in the Western democracies’ context, where unions act as mechanisms of voice and complaint and hence are negatively related to job satisfaction (see Borjas, 1979; Freeman, 1978; Heywood et al., 2002). Having a contract is positively correlated with overall job satisfaction and satisfaction with the type of work measures.

Fringe Benefits

Having social insurance attached to the job is negatively associated with satisfaction with pay. This result could mainly stem from the fact that those enrolled in the social insurance system have their contributions deducted from their salaries and hence have lower disposable income. Almost all other fringe benefits variables are insignificant for all the three job satisfaction measures.

Determinants of Job Satisfaction for the Private and Public Sectors Samples

As the public and private sectors differ in many aspects of employment relationships and working conditions, following DeSantis and Durst (1996), Demoussis and Giannakopoulos (2007), and Ghinetti (2007), we conduct our analysis for the public sector employees and private sector employees separately. The results are reported in Table 5, which includes our full-fledged model for the three job satisfaction measures used in our analysis. The analysis by sector groups reveals some interesting results. As we have suspected, the higher likelihood of satisfaction among female workers compared to male counterparts reported in Table 3 is mainly driven by female workers in the public sector. This is expected considering what is expressed in the literature that public sector jobs provide women with good opportunities to achieve work-life balance as they fit the gendered role of women by providing them with shorter workdays, safer workspaces, and female-related benefits such as generous maternity leaves (Amin et al., 2012; Barsoum, 2021).

Table 5 Ordered probit regressions - public and private
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The non-linear relationship between age and the three measures of job satisfaction is more pronounced in the case of private sector employees. The lack of non-linearity between age and job satisfaction in the case of public sector employees could be mainly driven by the aging of the workforce in the public sector that mainly resulted from the slowdown and suspension of public sector employment in recent decades. Another reason behind this lack of non-linearity could be that public sector employees find their perfect match once hired in the public sector, and hence they do not need to sample through many firms or many jobs (see Borjas, 1979). So, it could be argued that the matching period is much lower for public sector employees in Egypt compared to those seeking jobs in the private sector. As it was mentioned above, the public sector job has been and continues to be the preferred job for Egyptian workers. Unlike their private sector counterparts, public sector workers accomplish a successful job match once they are hired in the public sector. The negative association between education and the overall job satisfaction measure found in the analysis of the whole sample is mainly driven by workers in the private sector. This is an expected result, considering what we mentioned before about the higher preference among Egyptians, especially the educated, for public sector jobs over a career in the private sector. Those who are highly educated and work in the private sector are not working in their preferred job and hence they are not satisfied with their job.

The negative effect of the commute to work on job satisfaction found for the whole sample is mainly driven by private sector workers as the relationship is found to be insignificant for public sector workers. In fact, the average commute is not that much different between the two sectors: 0.59 h for the private sector compared to 0.56 h for the public sector. It seems that those who land public sector jobs would not be bothered by the commute time or distance as this job is their dream job, and hence the negative effect of commuting is offset by the many benefits of the public sector job. The contract dummy is positive and significant only in the case of the private sector employees. The insignificance of the contract dummy for the public sector sample could be explained by the fact that having a legal contract is almost the default in the case of the public sector, while the opposite is true for private sector employees. Also, the health insurance dummy is positive and significant in the case of the public sector employees’ group only. The reason behind that could be the age structure of the public sector workforce and the concentration of aged employees in the public sector compared to a younger private sector workforce. Hence, health insurance would be highly valued by public sector workers.

What Makes a Good Job in the Egyptian Labor Market?

We take our analysis a step further by looking at the most important aspects of a job or, as Clark (2001: 224) puts it: “what makes a good job”. The best possible approach is to ask workers about the job attributes they find the most important in their jobs (Clark, 2001). Since the data used in this analysis does not include such questions, we follow Ward and Sloane (2000) in their approach of using an Ordered Probit model to regress overall job satisfaction on the eight domain job satisfaction measures included in the survey. Following Clark (2001), we assume the cardinality of the eight domain job satisfaction measures included as the explanatory variables in our equation. The results are shown in Table 6. Column 1 shows the regression results for the whole sample, where the most important aspects that affect overall job satisfaction are satisfaction with the type of work followed by satisfaction with job security. In general, six of the domain job satisfaction measures are significant, and two of them are insignificant: satisfaction with working hours and satisfaction with work schedule.

Table 6 Ordered probit regressions: the relationship between overall job satisfaction and its different domains
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For the public sector group of employees, the most important aspects of the job are satisfaction with job security followed by satisfaction with the type of work. Interestingly, satisfaction with pay is not a significant determinant of overall job satisfaction for this group. In fact, the average reserve wage that unemployed respondents in the survey mentioned for accepting a job in the public sector is 1789 Egyptian pounds compared to 2415 and 2428 Egyptian Pounds to accept a job in the formal private sector and informal private sector, respectively. So, it seems that Egyptians appreciate the non-pecuniary benefits provided by a public sector job, especially the job security and light workload, more than the pecuniary aspect. Interestingly, satisfaction with distance (commuting to work) is an insignificant determinant of the overall job satisfaction for the public sector workers. This is in line with the finding reported in Table 5 that travel time to work is an insignificant determinant of overall job satisfaction in the case of public sector workers.

Like public sector workers, the most important aspects of the job for private sector workers are satisfaction with the type of work and satisfaction with job security. But, unlike the case for the public sector group, satisfaction with pay is a significant determinant of overall job satisfaction for the private sector workers. This is expected considering what we have found that private sector jobs are unpleasant jobs, and hence the pay aspect is important for private sector workers as compensation for doing an unpleasant job. This is also reflected in the higher reported reserve wage that unemployed respondents would accept to take a job in the private sector as it was discussed in the preceding paragraph.

The results support what Clark (2001) pointed out that standard labor market analysis has put too much weight on wages and working hours in the determination of what constitutes a good job while there are other aspects that are equally important or even more important than those two aspects. Hence, other aspects such as job security or the type of work being done should be paid more attention in the analysis of what makes a good job in the Egyptian context and other Arab countries that have similar labor market characteristics, especially the high share of the public sector in total employment.

Conclusion

This study shows how policies - such as public sector hiring which is considered as one of the cornerstones of the post-independence welfare state in Egypt - can direct people’s preferences and affect social outcomes, including subjective well-being measures such as job satisfaction. Three main conclusions result from our analysis. First, there is a significant public-private job satisfaction differential that persists even after the inclusion of confounding variables in our models. Second, since public sector jobs are not just more pleasant but also more well paid compared to private sector jobs, hence it could be argued that the Egyptian labor market is best characterized by wage rents rather than compensating differences. Third, the typical focus of labor market analysis on wages and working hours might overlook other important aspects of the job, such as job security and the type of work being done. The findings of this study could be extended to other Middle Eastern countries with similar labor market characteristics and welfare state trajectories.