The Journal of Socio-Economics 36 (2007) 895–913 The effect of job satisfaction on labor turnover by gender: An analysis for Switzerland  Alfonso Sousa-Poza a,b,∗ , Andr´ es A. Sousa-Poza c a University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany b University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland c Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA Abstract This paper analyzes the effect of job satisfaction on labor turnover by gender using data from the first two waves of the Swiss Household Panel (1999 and 2000). The results confirm that job satisfaction is a very good predictor of future quits and, more important, reveal that job satisfaction does not influence the inclination to become non-employed; that is, neither men nor women self-select out of the labor force due to dissatisfaction. This result clearly refutes the claim that the gender/job satisfaction paradox (i.e., the fact that women tend to be more satisfied at work than men) is being driven by self-selection. This paper also shows that, based on job satisfaction information and quitting behavior, there is no apparent difference in firm attachment between men and women. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. JEL classification: C13; J16; J28; J60; J71 Keywords: Labor turnover; Gender; Job satisfaction; Firm attachment 1. Introduction It is now an established fact that reported job satisfaction measures are good predictors of future job quits (Clark, 2001; Clark et al., 1998; Freeman, 1978). As pointed out by Clark (2001), this finding has two major implications—first, that job satisfaction data are informative (i.e., not simply noise) and second, that the many facets of job satisfaction are perhaps better predictors  This paper was presented at the conference “The Paradoxes of Happiness in Economics”, 21–23 March 2003 at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan, at the 15th Annual Conference of the European Association of Labour Economists (EALE), at the University Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain, 18–21 September 2003, and at the 11th World Congress of Social Economics, in Albertville, France, 8–11 June 2004. ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: alfonso.sousa-poza@unisg.ch (A. Sousa-Poza). 1053-5357/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.socec.2007.01.022