Are You Happy While You Work?

2015/04/15 by Alex Bryson, George MacKerron · 1 voice · 2 citations
Decision Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Psychology · #Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics #Housing Market and Economics #Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

paper · doi:10.1111/ecoj.12269

openalex publication_date 2015/04/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Using a new data source permitting individuals to record their well‐being via a smartphone, we explore within‐person variance in individuals’ well‐being measured momentarily at random points in time. We find paid work is ranked lower than any of the other 39 activities individuals can report engaging in, with the exception of being sick in bed. Precisely how unhappy one is while working varies significantly with where you work; whether you are combining work with other activities; whether you are alone or with others; and the time of day or night you are working.

Citations

• A Survey Method for Characterizing Daily Life Experience: The Day Reconstruction Method
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Visual Analog Scales

Cited by

• Violence in the vicinity: the mental health impacts of nearby crime
• What does a good day look like?: An interpretable machine learning approach to the American Time Use Survey

Discussions

• 🎢 Our day-to-day lives are full of ups and downs, but when are we at our happiest? George MacKerron (@jawj.prof) and @alexbryson.bsky.social used data from 20,000+ individuals to examine which activ [bsky, 6 points, 0 comments]

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