Generally, employed people are more satisfied

People who have accepted a job are more often satisfied than they were in the years prior to employment. The same applies people in their first years of retirement. Disabled persons are less often satisfied with their situation, before as well as after they became disabled.

Employed people more satisfied

In the period 1998/2009, 87 percent of people, whose position on the labour market had not changed, were satisfied with their lives. People who had accepted a job in the period 1998/2009 were more satisfied than during the period prior to employment. The share of people who were satisfied grew from 80 to 85 percent.

People more often satisfied during the first years of retirement

Retired people are more often satisfied with their lives than before retirement. This applies in particular to the first years after retirement when nearly 90 percent are satisfied. The proportion of satisfied people is higher among those who went into retirement than among people whose position on the labour market has not changed.

Satisfaction level of retired and employed people over the age of 20, 1998/2009

Low satisfaction level benefit recipients

The satisfaction level of people who have become disabled is distinctly below average. Several years before they became disabled, 74 percent were satisfied with their situation. In the before they received a disablement benefit, 56 percent were satisfied with their situation. Subsequently, the proportion gradually reaches the level prior to disablement.
People living on unemployment benefits are also less often satisfied with their situation than on average in the years before as well as after they became unemployed.

Satisfaction level of  over-20s by disability and unemployment, 1998/2009

Marleen Wingen and Linda Moonen