Fernandez-Urbano Roger
European University Institute (EUI), Fiesole, Italy.
Front Sociol. 2025 Apr 24;10:1527125. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1527125. eCollection 2025.
Subjective variables related to the labor market have long been recognized to be strongly associated with individuals' happiness. However, most existing research relied on correlational analyses, which have been insufficient in establishing causation. Establishing causal links is crucial for disentangling reverse causality as well as addressing order-of-effect and omitted variable biases, thereby determining whether and how subjective labor market perceptions directly impact happiness. Moreover, prior studies have primarily focused on personal labor market concerns, largely overlooking perceptions of labor market opportunities at the macro level. Recognizing these broader perceptions is vital for understanding behavioral outcomes at both individual and societal levels, and for understanding persistent levels of structural unemployment and particular policy preferences.
This study addresses these gaps by conducting harmonized natural field experiments in Pennsylvania, U.S., and Barcelona, Spain, to examine how perceptions of macro-level labor market opportunities impact happiness.
The results reveal that in Barcelona only positive perceptions have an effect and increase happiness, whereas in Pennsylvania only negative perceptions impact happiness and do so detrimentally. This discrepancy is attributed to subtle, experimentally induced ships in the framing of truthful macroeconomic information. The discussion proposes a cultural bias mechanism to account for these differences. Heterogeneous effects of the treatments in terms of social background and subjective health are also discussed. The findings hold significant implications for policymaking and organizational strategies, underscoring the importance of understanding how perceived macro-labor market opportunities shape happiness.
长期以来，人们一直认识到与劳动力市场相关的主观变量与个人幸福感密切相关。然而，大多数现有研究依赖于相关性分析，在确立因果关系方面存在不足。确立因果联系对于厘清反向因果关系以及解决效应顺序和遗漏变量偏差至关重要，从而确定主观劳动力市场认知是否以及如何直接影响幸福感。此外，先前的研究主要集中在个人对劳动力市场的担忧上，很大程度上忽视了宏观层面的劳动力市场机会认知。认识到这些更广泛的认知对于理解个人和社会层面的行为结果，以及理解持续的结构性失业水平和特定的政策偏好至关重要。
本研究通过在美国宾夕法尼亚州和西班牙巴塞罗那进行统一的自然实地实验来填补这些空白，以检验宏观层面的劳动力市场机会认知如何影响幸福感。
结果显示，在巴塞罗那，只有积极认知会产生影响并增加幸福感，而在宾夕法尼亚州，只有消极认知会影响幸福感且产生不利影响。这种差异归因于在真实宏观经济信息框架中由实验诱导的细微变化。讨论提出了一种文化偏见机制来解释这些差异。还讨论了处理措施在社会背景和主观健康方面的异质性影响。这些发现对政策制定和组织战略具有重要意义，强调了理解宏观劳动力市场机会认知如何塑造幸福感的重要性。
