Documents McKay, Stephen 6 results

"In most of the literature on industrial relations, union members are found to be less satisfied with their jobs than non-members. Analysts have applied various statistical and econometric approaches to try to resolve what seems like a paradoxical finding, with mixed results, using theories based on selection bias and ‘exit-voice' considerations. We review this literature, and note that most empirical studies are from only a few countries – especially the US and the UK. Analysis of a wider range of 18 countries participating in the large-scale European Social Survey in both 2006 and 2010 finds that trade union members generally tend to express higher rather than lower job satisfaction than others, although results differ by country. We use regression models (ordinal logistic) to show that union membership is generally associated with higher job satisfaction, even after controlling for individual, job and workplace differences. Attempts to link the union factor in job satisfaction to typologies of countries, either by welfare regime or extent of collective bargaining coverage, have not been able to address the puzzle of why a negative link persists in a few countries, but not in most. "

"Intra-European migrants reported lower job satisfaction levels than native workers, in three rounds of the European Social Survey. This deficit was also experienced by their descendants (the second generation), despite the latter generation achieving native levels of household income. At least some part of these lower levels of job satisfaction was associated with a clustering into lower-productivity industries. There are striking gender differences in experiences: among men the first generation is just as likely to be satisfied with their jobs as the ‘native' population, whilst it is the second generation who are less likely to achieve job satisfaction. For women, both generations experienced a deficit in job satisfaction. This may reflect changing expectations of work among men, and integration for women, across generations, and contrasts with the convergence in earnings over time. The country of origin, within Europe, did not seem to be associated with levels of job satisfaction."