1 Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain.
2 Mannheim Centre for European Social Research, University of Mannheim, Germany.
Scand J Public Health. 2019 May;47(3):357-365. doi: 10.1177/1403494818823934. Epub 2019 Jan 25.
There is evidence that young people are less satisfied with their lives when they are unemployed or working in precarious conditions. This study aims to shed light on how the life satisfaction of unemployed and precariously employed young people varies across welfare states with different labour market policies and levels of social protection.
The analyses are based on representative cross-sectional survey data from five European countries (Denmark, the UK, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic), corresponding to five different welfare state regimes. For economically active young adults ( N=6681), the prevalence ratios of low life satisfaction were estimated through multivariate logistic regressions.
In all five countries, unemployed young adults presented a higher prevalence of low life satisfaction. When we compared employees with people with permanent and temporary contracts, the former were more satisfied with their lives only in Germany and the UK, examples of conservative and liberal welfare regimes, respectively. Experience of unemployment decreased young adults' life satisfaction only in Germany and the Czech Republic, examples of a conservative and an eastern European welfare regime, respectively. In almost all countries, young adults with low economic self-sufficiency presented a higher prevalence of low life satisfaction.
There are nuanced patterns of employment type and life satisfaction across European states that hint at welfare state regimes as possible moderators in this relationship. The results suggest that the psychological burdens of unemployment or work uncertainty cannot be overlooked and should be addressed according to different types of social provisions.
有证据表明，年轻人在失业或从事不稳定工作时，对生活的满意度较低。本研究旨在探讨在劳动力市场政策和社会保障水平不同的福利国家中，失业和不稳定就业的年轻人的生活满意度如何存在差异。
本分析基于来自五个欧洲国家（丹麦、英国、德国、西班牙和捷克共和国）的具有代表性的横断面调查数据，这些国家对应着五种不同的福利国家模式。对于经济活跃的年轻成年人（N=6681），通过多变量逻辑回归估计低生活满意度的患病率比。
在所有五个国家中，失业的年轻成年人生活满意度低的比例较高。当我们将有固定和临时合同的雇员与那些没有合同的人进行比较时，只有在德国和英国，这两个国家分别属于保守和自由的福利国家模式，前者对生活的满意度更高。在德国和捷克共和国，这两个国家分别属于保守和东欧的福利国家模式，失业经历仅降低了年轻人的生活满意度。在几乎所有国家中，经济自给能力较低的年轻人生活满意度低的比例较高。
欧洲国家在就业类型和生活满意度方面存在细微差异，这暗示福利国家模式可能是这种关系的调节因素。研究结果表明，失业或工作不稳定带来的心理负担不容忽视，应根据不同类型的社会保障措施来解决。
