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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sociol.
Sec. Sociology of Stratification
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1527125
This article is part of the Research Topic (Mis)perceptions of Inequality as a Social Issue View all articles
How Perceptions of Labour Market Opportunities Predict Happiness: Evidence from Natural Field Experiments
Provisionally accepted- 1 Paris School of Economics, Paris, France
- 2 European University Institute (EUI), Fiesole, Italy
Subjective variables related to the labour 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 labour market perceptions directly impact happiness. Moreover, prior studies have primarily focused on personal labour market concerns, largely overlooking perceptions of labour market opportunities at the macro level. Recognizing these broader perceptions is vital for understanding behavioural 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 macrolevel labour 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 shifts 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-labour market opportunities shape happiness.
Keywords: happiness, perceptions, Labour market, culture, natural field experiments
Received: 12 Nov 2024; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fernandez-Urbano. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Roger Fernandez-Urbano, Paris School of Economics, Paris, France
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