Is job satisfaction U‐shaped in age?

TLDR

Job satisfaction is often thought to rise linearly with age, but evidence suggests a U‑shaped pattern, falling in early career and rising toward retirement. The study examines the age‑job satisfaction relationship using survey data from a large British employee sample. The authors use ordered probit models on survey data, accounting for ordinal satisfaction measures and a wide array of individual and job characteristics. Results show a strong U‑shaped relationship between age and job satisfaction, with significant age and age‑squared effects remaining after controlling for 80 variables, and a similar pattern appears in employees’ mental health, underscoring the role of life‑stage expectations.

Abstract

It is generally believed that job satisfaction increases linearly with age. However, there are persuasive arguments, and some empirical evidence, that the relationship is U‐shaped, declining from a moderate level in the early years of employment and then increasing steadily up to retirement. This paper investigates that relationship, using survey responses from a large sample of British employees. For overall job satisfaction, satisfaction with pay, and satisfaction with the work itself, a strongly significant U‐shape is observed. Ordered probit techniques, which take account of the ordinality of satisfaction data, are used to analyse the relationship between these forms of satisfaction and a large set of individual and job characteristics. Despite the inclusion of 80 control variables, significant coefficients persist for the age and age‐squared variables (the latter representing the non‐linear component). The paper thus provides strong evidence for a U‐shaped relationship between age and job satisfaction. Furthermore, it is shown that a similar age pattern occurs for employees' context‐free mental health, suggesting that both job satisfaction and context‐free mental health are affected by non‐job factors of life‐stage and personal circumstances. The importance of changes in expectations with increasing age is emphasized.