Work Stress and Subjective Well-Being in the United States, 2002–2022: Changes Over Time in Job Satisfaction and General Happiness
Using repeated cross-sectional data from the General Social Survey, this paper examines how the frequency of work stress is associated with job satisfaction and general happiness, and whether those relationships changed between 2002 and 2022.
Data & methods
The primary analysis uses GSS survey waves from 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2022. Survey-weighted regression models adjust for age, education, sex, marital status, self-employment status, and survey-year fixed effects, with interaction models used to examine changes over time.
Key findings
- More frequent work stress is associated with progressively lower job satisfaction and lower general happiness.
- Compared with respondents reporting that work is never stressful, those reporting it is always stressful have adjusted job-satisfaction scores 0.492 points lower and general-happiness scores 0.265 points lower.
- The negative work-stress gradient in job satisfaction becomes stronger over the 2002–2022 period, with an especially large adjusted gap in 2022.
- Evidence of temporal change is weaker and less consistent for general happiness than for job satisfaction.
Interpretation
The analysis uses observational repeated cross-sections, so the estimates are interpreted as associations rather than causal effects.