People prefer high-paying jobs to happiness

A survey results have indicated that people are willing to choose higher-paying jobs over their happiness. Others said they would enjoy the greater social status that came with the role while some said it would give them a greater sense of purpose.

A survey results have indicated that people are willing to choose higher-paying jobs over their happiness. More than 2500 people were asked which job would make them happier - a job which paid £50,000 with "reasonable" hours allowing them 7.5 hours sleep or the one paying £90,000 with "unusual" hours allowing them just six hours sleep.

The researchers, a team of economists from Cornell University in the U.S., found more respondents chose better pay despite the fact they believed it would make them less happy. When asked for the reason behind their choice, many people said that they felt picking the better paid job would make their family happier.

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Others said they would enjoy the greater social status that came with the role while some said it would give them a greater sense of purpose.

Alex Rees-Jones, one of the PhD students behind the research, said he believed the findings had political implications. “Our research suggests that if governments choose to design policies to maximise happiness measured in their surveys, they might impose policies that people would not want for themselves,” the Daily Mail quoted him as telling the Daily Telegraph.

The research is being presented at the Fourth Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences in Austria and will be published in the American Economic Review.