Job Risk

Susana Ferreira Professor

Agricultural & Applied Economics

sferreir@uga.edu 706-542-0086

Job Satisfaction, Risk, and Wellbeing

Professor Susana Ferreira, along with Sara Martinez de Morentin and Amaya Erro-Garcés published an article titled "Measuring job risks when hedonic wage models do not do the job," this semester in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

Using survey data from over 35,000 workers across 30 European countries, the study finds that people in riskier, harder, or less pleasant jobs don’t necessarily earn more—but they do report being less satisfied. This disconnect challenges the assumptions of wage-based models and suggests new ways to measure labor market wellbeing.

The research introduces an “experienced preference” approach, using job satisfaction as a stand-in for utility to estimate how workers trade off wages against other aspects of their job—including safety, comfort, and support. This experienced preference approach offers a promising alternative for estimating the value of a statistical life and improving cost-benefit analyses in labor and environmental policy.

Is your job making you happy? Insights from job satisfaction data

Job Satisfaction

Sometimes at work, it’s not just a case of the Mondays. The level of dissatisfaction employees have with their job can last beyond the start of the week. New University of Georgia research has found that employers and policymakers might want to start paying attention because employee happiness contains critical economic information. Susana Ferreira, professor of agricultural and applied economics in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, used an empirical model to relate job satisfaction, wages and work environment.