Public Sector Work and Happiness

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Howell-moroney, Michael; Ertas, Nevbahar
• 署名单位: University of Memphis; University of Alabama System; University of Alabama Birmingham
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352; 1540-6210
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.70069
• 发表日期: 2026-07
• 页码: 1074-1090
• 关键词: cross-national analysis; happiness; life satisfaction; Public sector; Subjective well-being; World Values Survey; job-satisfaction; income; modernization; coefficients; GOVERNMENT; HEALTH; LIFE

摘要

Are public sector workers happier than their private sector counterparts? Recent research has found an association between public sector employment and happiness but leaves many questions unanswered. The major question that remains is why this association exists. Scholars have speculated that job-related characteristics like financial satisfaction and union status may be mediators, but this has not been established empirically. Our article provides the first empirical evidence of mediation in the relationship between public sector work and happiness. Using large sample data from the World Values Survey (n = 124,541), we find that financial satisfaction and union status both mediate the association between public sector work and happiness, with financial satisfaction being the dominant mediator in most cases. When the association between public sector work and subjective well-being is stratified by household income and country income, we find that the effects are strongest among low-income government workers in low-income countries.