Quality of non-farm employment and subjective well-being in rural China

While China’s economy has experienced rapid growth in recent decades, there is still a large gap in the quality of employment between urban and rural areas. This paper investigates the impact of non-farm employment quality on the subjective well-being of rural residents in China. We use a multidimensional approach to construct the quality index of non-farm employment at the individual level, and then estimate the effect of non-farm employment quality on subjective well-being. The results show that high-quality employment for rural residents is significantly associated with higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction, and the results are robust to the test of omitted variable bias. Based on the mediation analysis, the positive relationship between the quality of non-farm employment and subjective well-being is mediated by income and health. Further evidence suggests that high-quality employment enhances subjective well-being primarily by providing better employment conditions for workers. Additionally, other aspects of employment quality (e.g., labor income, employment security, and employment skills) matter for improvement in well-being outcomes.