Happiness and Aging in the United States

34 Pages Posted: 29 Nov 2021 Last revised: 26 May 2023

See all articles by David G. Blanchflower

David G. Blanchflower

Dartmouth College - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); University of Stirling - Department of Economics

Carol Graham

Brookings Institution - Center on Social and Economic Dynamics; University of Maryland

Date Written: November 2020

Abstract

We examine the relationship between union membership and job satisfaction over the life-course using data from the National Child Development Study (NCDS) tracking all those born in Great Britain in a single week in March in 1958 through to age 55 (2013). Data from immigrants as well as non-respondents to the original 1958 Perinatal Mortality Study (PMS) are added in later years. Conditioning on one’s social class at birth, together with one’s education and employment status, we find there is a significant negative correlation between union membership and job satisfaction that is apparent across the life-course. Lagged union membership status going back many years is negatively correlated with current job satisfaction, though its effects become statistically non-significant when conditioning on current union membership status. These results provide a different perspective to longitudinal studies showing short-term positive responses to switches in membership status. They are consistent with earlier work showing that this cohort of workers, and others before them, have persistently lower job satisfaction as union members compared to their non-union counterparts.

Suggested Citation

Blanchflower, David G. and Graham, Carol, Happiness and Aging in the United States (November 2020). NBER Working Paper No. w28143, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3739640

David G. Blanchflower (Contact Author)

Dartmouth College - Department of Economics ( email )

Hanover, NH 03755
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603-646-2536 (Phone)
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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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University of Stirling - Department of Economics ( email )

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United Kingdom

Carol Graham

Brookings Institution - Center on Social and Economic Dynamics ( email )

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Washington, DC 20036
United States
(202) 797-6022 (Phone)
(202) 797-2968 (Fax)

University of Maryland ( email )

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College Park, MD 20742
United States

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