# Job quality and employee happiness: evidence from China

## TL;DR

This paper shows that better job quality in China leads to happier employees through improved mental health and workplace harmony.

## Contribution

The study introduces a multidimensional job quality index and demonstrates its causal impact on employee happiness using instrumental variable estimation.

## Key findings

- Job quality significantly and positively affects employee happiness in China.
- High-quality jobs improve mental health and workplace harmony, enhancing subjective well-being.

## Abstract

Despite the rapid economic growth experienced by China in recent decades, issues such as income inequality, occupational stress, and disparities in career advancement opportunities have become increasingly salient, exerting a detrimental influence on the subjective well-being and overall quality of life of employees.

Using a nationally-representative survey data in China, we construct an index of job quality at the individual level using a multidimensional approach and then estimate the effect of job quality on employee happiness.

Results from instrumental variable estimation show that job quality has a significantly positive effect on employee happiness. Moreover, a high-quality jobs enhances employee subjective well-being mainly through pathways including improved mental health and increased harmony perception.

To improve the well-being of employees in developing countries, this paper emphasizes the importance of policy support to improve the quality of their work.