Black-White Differences in Job Satisfaction: Evidence from 21 Nationwide Surveys

Abstract

Examination of a number of published studies of black-white differences in job satisfaction suggests their contradictory results are explained, at least in part, by misinterpretation of the representativeness of samples and nonresponse error. Evidence from 21 nationwide opinion surveys from 1972 through 1996 provides strong evidence that in the United States labor force African-Americans ( n = 1231) reported being less satisfied than Euro-Americans ( n = 10,709) with their jobs. This difference existed for both women and men across categories of education, age, and occupation.