Men’s and women’s satisfaction with various job aspects in Russia

Abstract

The paper aims to provide an overview of gender differences in the level of satisfaction with various job aspects in Russia. The study is based upon the analysis of two waves of the «Comprehensive monitoring of living conditions » conducted by the Federal State Statistics Service in 2011 and 2014. The three-year-long study shows that the job satisfaction levels among men and women have increased. Men are more satisfied with salaries, whereas women feel happier with other aspects such as job security, job requirements, working hours, working conditions, and distance between home and workplace. In other words, there is a gender paradox in Russia: all other factors being equal, Russian women are more satisfied with work than men. However, there are no significant differences in terms of professional and moral fulfillment. Social and demographic characteristics have almost the same impact on various aspects of job satisfaction for both men and women but certain differences do exist. Men and women without higher education diplomas are less satisfied with all job aspects except for distance from home to work. Compared with permanent contract employees, temporary contract employees and employees without a written contract are less happy with various aspects of job, especially job security. At the same time, the employment without a written contract can influence job satisfaction only among men. With aging, both men and women are more satisfied with various job aspects, though there are certain age-based differences. Finally, women with children in single-parent families are least satisfied with various job aspects, whereas men living alone are more satisfied with their jobs compared to married men without children.