Job Satisfaction and Family Happiness: The Part-Time Work Puzzle

We investigate the relationship between part-time work and working hours satisfaction, job satisfaction and life satisfaction. We account for interdependence within the family using data on partnered men and women from the British Household Panel Survey. Men have the highest hours-of-work satisfaction if they work full-time without overtime hours but neither their job satisfaction nor their life satisfaction are affected by how many hours they work. Women present a puzzle. Hours satisfaction and job satisfaction indicate that women prefer part-time jobs irrespective of whether these are small or large but their life satisfaction is virtually unaffected by hours of work.