(Dis-)Satisfaction in Agriculture? An Explorative Analysis of Job and Life Satisfaction in East Germany

Abstract

Attractive working and living conditions are crucial in the competition for skilled workers. While the overall number of studies that investigate job and life satisfaction has increased substantially over the last few years, detailed regional and branch specific descriptions of the job and life satisfaction of agricultural workers are lacking. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 2000 to 2015, we explore the job and life satisfaction of the agricultural workforce in crop production in East Germany in comparison to other sectors of the economy. The main findings of this study are: (i) the job satisfaction of agricultural workers (crop production) is considerably higher than their life satisfaction, whereas in other sectors job and life satisfaction levels are very similar. (ii) Compared to other sectors of the economy, agricultural workers (crop production) report higher levels of job satisfaction. (iii) Similarly, job satisfaction among unskilled agricultural workers exceeds the job satisfaction of unskilled workers in other sectors of the economy. These results do not indicate that poor working conditions in agriculture are the main reason for the shortage of (skilled) labor in the agricultural sector.