The Happiness Premium? Gender and Employment Sector Differences in Well-Being in China

This study examines how employment sector and gender jointly shape happiness and subjective well-being (SWB) in China, focusing on life satisfaction, standard-of-living (SOL) satisfaction, and health. Using data from the China Household Income Project (CHIP), the analysis combines regression models and an endogenous switching framework to account for sectoral selection and returns effects. The results reveal a consistent public-sector happiness premium , with employees in the public sector reporting higher well-being than those in the private sector. However, the sources of this advantage differ by gender and well-being domain. For both men and women, higher life satisfaction in the public sector stems primarily from institutional returns rather than compositional differences in individual characteristics. Counterfactual analyses further show that private-sector workers would experience greater life satisfaction if employed in the public sector, underscoring the desirability of public employment in China’s labor market. For SOL satisfaction, the decomposition results differ by gender, indicating that the sources of the premium vary between men and women. Education, marriage, and job tenure are positively associated with well-being, while long working hours reduce satisfaction, especially in the public sector. The findings highlight how institutional context and gendered experiences jointly shape happiness, offering theoretical insights into the gender well-being paradox and practical implications for promoting gender equity and enhancing happiness.