Labor Inequality in Loja: A Comparative Analysis of Job Satisfaction between Formal and Informal Workers
Article Sidebar
Published:
Jun 29, 2026
Keywords:
econometric models, Blinder-Oaxaca, employment, wages, physical health
Main Article Content
Abstract
Global evidence reveals that, on average, 74 % of employed people report being satisfied with their work situation, a digit that increases to 77 % in Latin America, thus highlighting significant regional differences in the perception of work well-being. In this sense, this research aims to evaluate the relationship between informality and labor well-being in the year 2023 in Loja, Ecuador, through econometric techniques, with the purpose of proposing public policy implications focused on the well-being of individuals. The main results reveal that there is no statistically significant difference between well-being of formal and informal workers, despite the fact that formal workers have a higher average salary. The perception of job autonomy and improvement in physical health are associated with an increase in work well-being, regardless of the type of work performed. Finally, a well-being gap is not observed, given that there are no significant differences between the observable characteristics of both groups. Consequently, it is recommended to implement programs aimed at improving the quality of work that include both formal and informal workers, through initiatives that generate better affiliation to social security and labor protection.
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Article Details
How to Cite
Maza Massa, E. G., & Ortiz Villalta, C. P. (2026). Labor Inequality in Loja: A Comparative Analysis of Job Satisfaction between Formal and Informal Workers. Cuestiones Económicas, 36(1), Autores: Elías Gustavo Maza Massa y Cristian Paúl Ortiz Villalta. https://doi.org/10.47550/RCE/36.1.7
Section
Artículos de Investigación
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
References
Abd-Ellatif, E. E., Anwar, M. M., AlJifri, A. A., & El Dalatony, M. M. (2021). Fear of COVID-19 and its impact on job satisfaction and turnover intention among Egyptian physicians. Safety and Health at Work, 12(4), 490-495.
Alejandro González, R. T., & Cañizares Cedeño, E. L. (2025). Satisfacción laboral y su incidencia en el desempeño de los trabajadores de la Fundación Inversión Ecuador. LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, 6(2), 188-198. https://doi.org/10.56712/latam.v6i2.3617
Aleksynska, M. (2018). Temporary employment, work quality, and job satisfaction. Journal of Comparative Economics, 46(3), 722-735.
Alrawahi, S., Sellgren, S. F., Altouby, S., Alwahaibi, N., & Brommels, M. (2024). Stress and job satisfaction among medical laboratory professionals in Oman: A cross-sectional study. Heliyon, 10(3).
Álvarez Silva, L. A., López Rodríguez, L. A., & Silva Avilés, N. E. (2019). Satisfacción laboral en una organización humancare de la Bahía de Guayaquil. Podium, 35, 87-96. https://doi.org/10.31095/podium.2019.35.6
Bao, M. X., Cheng, X., & Smith, D. (2020). A path analysis investigation of the relationships between CEO pay ratios and firm performance mediated by employee satisfaction. Advances in Accounting, 100457.
Blinder, A. S. (1973). Wage discrimination: Reduced form and structural estimates. Journal of Human Resources, 8, 436-455.
Bradley, D. E., & Roberts, J. A. (2004). Self-Employment and Job Satisfaction: Investigating the Role of Self-Efficacy, Depression, and Seniority. Journal of Small Business Management, 42(1), 37-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-627x.2004.00096.x
Burone, S., & Méndez, L. (2022). Are women and men equally happy at work? Evidence from PhD holders at a public university in Uruguay. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 97, 101821. Clark, A. E. (1996). Job Satisfaction in Britain. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 34(2), 189-217.
Danzer, N. (2019). Job satisfaction and self-selection into the public or private sector: Evidence from a natural experiment. Labour Economics, 57, 46-62.
Díaz-Carrión, R., Navajas-Romero, V., & Casas-Rosal, J. C. (2020). Comparing working conditions and job satisfaction in hospitality workers across Europe. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 90, 102631.
Diriwaechter, P., & Shvartsman, E. (2018). The anticipation and adaptation effects of intra- and interpersonal wage changes on job satisfaction. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 146, 116-140.
Easton, T. (2020). Teaching econometrics with data on coworker salaries and job satisfaction. International Review of Economics Education, 34, 100178.
Eliyana, A., & Ma’arif, S. (2019). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment effect in the transformational leadership towards employee performance. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 25(3), 144-150.
Faramarzpour, M., Farokhzadian, J., Tirgari, B., Shahrbabaki, P. M., Borhani, F., & Rafati, F. (2021). Nurses’ perceptions of hospital ethical climate and their job satisfaction. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 18, 100664.
Gazioglu, S., & Tansel, A. (2006). Job satisfaction in Britain: individual and job related factors. Applied Economics, 38(10), 1163-1171. https://doi.org/10.1080/
Goerke, L., & Huang, Y. (2022). Job satisfaction and trade union membership in Germany. Labour Economics, 78, 102238.
Grijalva, A., Palacios, J., Patiño, C., & Tamayo, D. (2017). Los factores asociados a la satisfacción laboral en Ecuador en 2007 y 2015 utilizando la Encuesta Nacional de Empleo, Desempleo y Subempleo. Revista de Análisis Estadístico, 35-45.
Hassan, O., & Ibourk, A. (2021). Burnout, self-efficacy and job satisfaction among primary school teachers in Morocco. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 4(1), 100148.
Henriques, C. O., Luque, M., Marcenaro-Gutiérrez, O. D., & López-Agudo, L. A. (2018). A multiobjective interval programming model to explore the trade-offs among different aspects of job satisfaction under different scenarios. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences.
Henriques, C. O., Marcenaro-Gutiérrez, O. D., & López-Agudo, L. A. (2020). Getting a balance in the life satisfaction determinants of full-time and part-time European workers. Economic Analysis and Policy, 67, 87-113.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. (2015). Actualización metodológica: empleo en el sector informal y clasificación de los ocupados según sectores.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. (2023). Indicadores laborales: Encuesta Nacional de Empleo, Desempleo y Subempleo (ENEMDU) [Reporte Técnico de Indicadores].
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. https://www.ecuadorencifras.gob.ec/enemdu-2023/
Ipsos. (2023). Global happiness up six points from last year, 73% now say they are happy. Jurik, N. C., & Halemba, G. J. (1984). Gender, Working Conditions and the Job Satisfaction of Women in a Non-Traditional Occupation: Female Correctional Officers in Men’s Prisons. The Sociological Quarterly, 25(4), 551-566.
Lange, T. (2012). Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality? Small Business Economics, 38, 165-177.
Lepinteur, A. (2019). The shorter workweek and worker wellbeing: Evidence from Portugal and France. Labour Economics, 58, 204-220.
Liu, S., Keeley, J. W., Sui, Y., & Sang, L. (2021). Impact of distributed leadership on teacher job satisfaction in China: The mediating roles of teacher autonomy and teacher collaboration. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 71, 101099.
Locke, E. A. (1969). What is job satisfaction? Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 4(4), 309-336.
Mobilio, S. B., Irish, T. R., Larson, J. W., Finnerty, M. W., & Sweetser, K. D. (2021). The few, the proud, the satisfied? The relationship between perceptions of public affairs and job satisfaction in the US Marine Corps. Public Relations Review, 47(4), 102045.
Mohanty, M. (2019). Effects of job satisfaction on the worker’s wage and weekly hours: A simultaneous equations approach. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 79, 27-42.
Oaxaca, R. (1973). Male-female wage differentials in urban labor markets. International Economic Review, 14, 693-709.
Olsen, A. A., & Mason, E. N. (2023). Perceptions of autonomy: Differential job satisfaction for general and special educators using a nationally representative dataset. Teaching and Teacher Education, 123, 103999.
Perugini, C., & Vladisavljević, M. (2019). Gender inequality and the gender-job satisfaction paradox in Europe. Labour Economics. Poghosyan, L., Brooks, J. M., Liu, J., Lee, Y., Bilazarian, A., & Muench, U. (2022). Physician and nurse practitioner teamwork and job satisfaction: Gender and profession. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 18(8), 819-824.
Roberts, J. A., & David, M. E. (2019). Boss phubbing, trust, job satisfaction and employee performance. Personality and Individual Differences.
Saner, T., & Eyüpoğlu, Ş. Z. (2012). The age and job satisfaction relationship in higher education. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 55, 1020-1026.
Stephan, U., Strauss, K., Gorgievski, M. J., & Wach, D. (2024). How entrepreneurs influence their employees’ job satisfaction: The double-edged sword of proactive personality. Journal of Business Research, 174, 114492.
Vettori, G., Bigozzi, L., Vezzani, C., & Pinto, G. (2022). The mediating role of emotions in the relation between beliefs and teachers’ job satisfaction. Acta Psychologica, 226, 103580.
Weiss, D., Weiss, M., Rudolph, C. W., & Zacher, H. (2022). Tough times at the top: Occupational status predicts changes in job satisfaction in times of crisis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 139, 103804.
Zheng, H., Vatsa, P., Ma, W., & Zhou, X. (2023). Working hours and job satisfaction in China: A threshold analysis. China Economic Review, 77, 101902. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.chieco.2022.101902
Alejandro González, R. T., & Cañizares Cedeño, E. L. (2025). Satisfacción laboral y su incidencia en el desempeño de los trabajadores de la Fundación Inversión Ecuador. LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, 6(2), 188-198. https://doi.org/10.56712/latam.v6i2.3617
Aleksynska, M. (2018). Temporary employment, work quality, and job satisfaction. Journal of Comparative Economics, 46(3), 722-735.
Alrawahi, S., Sellgren, S. F., Altouby, S., Alwahaibi, N., & Brommels, M. (2024). Stress and job satisfaction among medical laboratory professionals in Oman: A cross-sectional study. Heliyon, 10(3).
Álvarez Silva, L. A., López Rodríguez, L. A., & Silva Avilés, N. E. (2019). Satisfacción laboral en una organización humancare de la Bahía de Guayaquil. Podium, 35, 87-96. https://doi.org/10.31095/podium.2019.35.6
Bao, M. X., Cheng, X., & Smith, D. (2020). A path analysis investigation of the relationships between CEO pay ratios and firm performance mediated by employee satisfaction. Advances in Accounting, 100457.
Blinder, A. S. (1973). Wage discrimination: Reduced form and structural estimates. Journal of Human Resources, 8, 436-455.
Bradley, D. E., & Roberts, J. A. (2004). Self-Employment and Job Satisfaction: Investigating the Role of Self-Efficacy, Depression, and Seniority. Journal of Small Business Management, 42(1), 37-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-627x.2004.00096.x
Burone, S., & Méndez, L. (2022). Are women and men equally happy at work? Evidence from PhD holders at a public university in Uruguay. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 97, 101821. Clark, A. E. (1996). Job Satisfaction in Britain. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 34(2), 189-217.
Danzer, N. (2019). Job satisfaction and self-selection into the public or private sector: Evidence from a natural experiment. Labour Economics, 57, 46-62.
Díaz-Carrión, R., Navajas-Romero, V., & Casas-Rosal, J. C. (2020). Comparing working conditions and job satisfaction in hospitality workers across Europe. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 90, 102631.
Diriwaechter, P., & Shvartsman, E. (2018). The anticipation and adaptation effects of intra- and interpersonal wage changes on job satisfaction. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 146, 116-140.
Easton, T. (2020). Teaching econometrics with data on coworker salaries and job satisfaction. International Review of Economics Education, 34, 100178.
Eliyana, A., & Ma’arif, S. (2019). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment effect in the transformational leadership towards employee performance. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 25(3), 144-150.
Faramarzpour, M., Farokhzadian, J., Tirgari, B., Shahrbabaki, P. M., Borhani, F., & Rafati, F. (2021). Nurses’ perceptions of hospital ethical climate and their job satisfaction. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 18, 100664.
Gazioglu, S., & Tansel, A. (2006). Job satisfaction in Britain: individual and job related factors. Applied Economics, 38(10), 1163-1171. https://doi.org/10.1080/
Goerke, L., & Huang, Y. (2022). Job satisfaction and trade union membership in Germany. Labour Economics, 78, 102238.
Grijalva, A., Palacios, J., Patiño, C., & Tamayo, D. (2017). Los factores asociados a la satisfacción laboral en Ecuador en 2007 y 2015 utilizando la Encuesta Nacional de Empleo, Desempleo y Subempleo. Revista de Análisis Estadístico, 35-45.
Hassan, O., & Ibourk, A. (2021). Burnout, self-efficacy and job satisfaction among primary school teachers in Morocco. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 4(1), 100148.
Henriques, C. O., Luque, M., Marcenaro-Gutiérrez, O. D., & López-Agudo, L. A. (2018). A multiobjective interval programming model to explore the trade-offs among different aspects of job satisfaction under different scenarios. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences.
Henriques, C. O., Marcenaro-Gutiérrez, O. D., & López-Agudo, L. A. (2020). Getting a balance in the life satisfaction determinants of full-time and part-time European workers. Economic Analysis and Policy, 67, 87-113.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. (2015). Actualización metodológica: empleo en el sector informal y clasificación de los ocupados según sectores.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. (2023). Indicadores laborales: Encuesta Nacional de Empleo, Desempleo y Subempleo (ENEMDU) [Reporte Técnico de Indicadores].
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. https://www.ecuadorencifras.gob.ec/enemdu-2023/
Ipsos. (2023). Global happiness up six points from last year, 73% now say they are happy. Jurik, N. C., & Halemba, G. J. (1984). Gender, Working Conditions and the Job Satisfaction of Women in a Non-Traditional Occupation: Female Correctional Officers in Men’s Prisons. The Sociological Quarterly, 25(4), 551-566.
Lange, T. (2012). Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality? Small Business Economics, 38, 165-177.
Lepinteur, A. (2019). The shorter workweek and worker wellbeing: Evidence from Portugal and France. Labour Economics, 58, 204-220.
Liu, S., Keeley, J. W., Sui, Y., & Sang, L. (2021). Impact of distributed leadership on teacher job satisfaction in China: The mediating roles of teacher autonomy and teacher collaboration. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 71, 101099.
Locke, E. A. (1969). What is job satisfaction? Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 4(4), 309-336.
Mobilio, S. B., Irish, T. R., Larson, J. W., Finnerty, M. W., & Sweetser, K. D. (2021). The few, the proud, the satisfied? The relationship between perceptions of public affairs and job satisfaction in the US Marine Corps. Public Relations Review, 47(4), 102045.
Mohanty, M. (2019). Effects of job satisfaction on the worker’s wage and weekly hours: A simultaneous equations approach. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 79, 27-42.
Oaxaca, R. (1973). Male-female wage differentials in urban labor markets. International Economic Review, 14, 693-709.
Olsen, A. A., & Mason, E. N. (2023). Perceptions of autonomy: Differential job satisfaction for general and special educators using a nationally representative dataset. Teaching and Teacher Education, 123, 103999.
Perugini, C., & Vladisavljević, M. (2019). Gender inequality and the gender-job satisfaction paradox in Europe. Labour Economics. Poghosyan, L., Brooks, J. M., Liu, J., Lee, Y., Bilazarian, A., & Muench, U. (2022). Physician and nurse practitioner teamwork and job satisfaction: Gender and profession. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 18(8), 819-824.
Roberts, J. A., & David, M. E. (2019). Boss phubbing, trust, job satisfaction and employee performance. Personality and Individual Differences.
Saner, T., & Eyüpoğlu, Ş. Z. (2012). The age and job satisfaction relationship in higher education. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 55, 1020-1026.
Stephan, U., Strauss, K., Gorgievski, M. J., & Wach, D. (2024). How entrepreneurs influence their employees’ job satisfaction: The double-edged sword of proactive personality. Journal of Business Research, 174, 114492.
Vettori, G., Bigozzi, L., Vezzani, C., & Pinto, G. (2022). The mediating role of emotions in the relation between beliefs and teachers’ job satisfaction. Acta Psychologica, 226, 103580.
Weiss, D., Weiss, M., Rudolph, C. W., & Zacher, H. (2022). Tough times at the top: Occupational status predicts changes in job satisfaction in times of crisis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 139, 103804.
Zheng, H., Vatsa, P., Ma, W., & Zhou, X. (2023). Working hours and job satisfaction in China: A threshold analysis. China Economic Review, 77, 101902. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.chieco.2022.101902