Job satisfaction dynamics: how do they impact employment mode choice for people with a disability?

Background: To enhance economic participation for people with a disability in the labor market, a better understanding of how job satisfaction influences employment mode decisions is needed. Methods: This study uses data collected from 8,345 People with Disability(PWD) workers from waves 3 to 19 of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to investigate the relationship between six domains of job satisfaction and employment mode (employee, solo self-employed, and employer) and covariates related to personal, health, socio-economic and employment-related attributes. Results: Analysis of 25,169 individual-level observations show important differences in the level of job satisfaction across the different employment modes and for different covariates. PWD entrepreneurs reported higher levels of satisfaction with their work, flexibility, and overall satisfaction, whereas employees report higher levels of contentment with salary, job security, and work hours. The findings also highlight interesting differences due to personal, health, socio-economic and employment related attributes. Conclusions: Collectively, these insights can guide policymakers to enhance entrepreneurial pathways for people with a disability.