Education and Job Satisfaction

Author : Cristina Pita, Ramon J. Torregrosa

Abstract : Empirical research on the relationship between education and job satisfaction has produced mixed results. While most studies rely on regression analysis, treating education as an explanatory variable in job satisfaction models, these divergent conclusions may be influenced by variations in econometric model specifications and datasets. In this paper, we explore whether higher educational attainment is associated with higher job satisfaction by applying two alternative methodologies to a large sample of 43,850 workers from 35 countries, based on the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS). We contrast standard regression analysis with the Balanced Worth (BW) procedure, a distribution-based methodology designed to handle ordinal data without arbitrary cardinalization. Our findings are clear: higher levels of education are positively correlated with greater reported job satisfaction with working conditions. Furthermore, we compare the results from both methodologies and find consistent conclusions in both approaches. The consistency of results across these methodologies strengthens the validity of the education-job satisfaction link and demonstrates the utility of the BW approach for social science research.

Keywords : Education, job satisfaction, Balanced Worth.

Conference Name : International Conference on Lifelong Learning for Employability and Careers (ICLLEC-26)

Conference Place : Rotterdam, Netherlands

Conference Date : 13th Apr 2026