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Studies

Knabe & Rätzel (2007): study DE 1992

Publication

Author(s):
Knabe, A.; Rätzel, S.
Title:
Quantifying the Psychological Costs of Unemployment: The Role of Permanent Income.
Source:
Working Paper No. 32, DIW, 2007, Berlin, Germany

Investigation

Public
21-64 aged, Germany, followed 13 years ,1992-2005
Sample
Probability stratified sample
Respondents
N = 152411
Non Response
not reported
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on single question:

Taking all things together, how satisfied are you with your life these days? Please answer with the help of this scale. For instance, when you are totally satisfied with your life, please tick '10'. When you are totally unsatisfied with your life, please tick '0'. You may use all values in between to indicate that you are neither totally satisfied nor totally unsatisfied."
10 totally satisfied
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0  totally unsatisfied
Classification:
O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-d
Author's label:
Life satisfaction
Remarks:
8.9 % reports life satisfaction lower than 5,  78.3 % reports 6 and higher
Page in publication:
8
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range 0 - 10 On range 0-10
Mean:
6.88 6.88
SD:
- -

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Unemployed Unemployed involuntary
Trend average happiness in employment categories
Long-term unemployed Unemployed involuntary Transitory income Household income Permanent income Earlier level of income Unemployment rate Unemployment in nation
Trend average happiness in Germany