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Corresponding Author:
Mduduzi Biyase, University of Johannesburg, School of Economics, South Africa

Coauthors:
Liza-Mari Volschenk, University of Johannesburg, School of Economics, South Africa
Sheila De Carvalho, University of Johannesburg, School of Economics, South Africa

Occupation Status-Subjective Well-being Nexus: A Quantile Regression Analysis

October 27, 2023
JEL classification: L22; M13
Keywords: NIDS; Occupation; Quantile Regression; REOP; SWB

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between occupation status and subjective well-being (SWB) in South Africa, an issue that has received almost no attention in this field, with data from the 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2017 waves of the National income Dynamics Study (NIDS). While the results based on the random effect ordered probit (REOP) suggest a positive relationship between occupation and SWB, the quantile regression estimates reveal a differential influence of occupation for individuals at different levels of the conditional SWB distribution. Specifically, the quantile regression reveals that while occupation status enters with an expected positive sign, its significant effect is mostly located in the lower to slightly upper part of the SWB distribution (Q25 and Q75). Thus, while our finding clearly supports the positive effect of occupation reported in the existing literature, the distributional influence is more nuanced, implying that the estimates derived from the standard estimators (such as REOP model) might underestimate this effect of occupation at these quantiles at the Q25. The effect of occupation on SWB is robust to the inclusion of interaction terms, such as the interactive effect between race and SWB.

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Occupation Status-Subjective Well-being Nexus: A Quantile Regression Analysis

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