A Comparison of Job Satisfaction and Its Determinants among Eastern and Western European Men

Laura Angelescu, University of Southern California

Labor relations in communist economies diverged historically from those in free market economies, leading to systematic differences between the workers in Eastern and Western Europe in terms of job satisfaction. But the expectation was that, as the economic transition progressed, these differences would get smaller. However, looking at self reported levels of job satisfaction in the early and late 1990s, we see that there was no sign of convergence. The young and more educated people of Central and Eastern Europe can be counted among the winners of the transition process in terms of job satisfaction. As expected, the patterns of job satisfaction were fairly stable in Western Europe. A notable fact is that in Eastern Europe increased emphasis is placed on job security. This is not surprising for societies that started off with virtually zero unemployment and ended up with unemployment rates in the double digits.