Subjective well-being and type of contract in Europe: Is there any effect of labour legislations?

The paper aims to reveal the effects of employment type (permanent/temporary, formal/informal, self-employed/hired, part-time/full-time) on subjective well-being across Europe (27 countries). At the end of the 20^th century, a higher demand for flexible labour relations was accompanied by a value shift towards the expansion of individual freedom, tolerance, and creativity. As previous research shows, non-permanent jobs often bring losses in wages, income instability, uncertainty about the future, and job dissatisfaction. This leads us to expect that flexible working relations could contribute to unhappiness and life dissatisfaction. We use the European Social Survey (2010) as an empirical basis for the analysis. The main tested idea of the paper is that countries with more liberal labour legislation have higher rates of subjective well-being as fewer people are employed on a temporary basis. The results from the regression analysis show that temporary and informal employment negatively affects subjective well-being, whereas self-employment influences subjective well-being positively. Strict employment protection legislation has negative impact on subjective well-being, especially for informal workers and temporary contractors.