Work–Family Conflict and Job Satisfaction

Using national survey data from the Chinese Social SurveyChinese Social Survey (CSS) of 2019 and 2021, this study examines the association between work–family conflict and subjective well-beingSubjective Well-Being (SWB) and investigates the determinants of work–family conflict in ChinaChina. The study yields three main conclusions. First, work–family conflict negatively impacts workers’ life satisfactionLife satisfaction, although it exhibits an insignificant effect on job satisfactionJob satisfaction. Second, the influence of work–family conflict on workers’ subjective well-beingSubjective Well-Being (SWB) varies by employment sectorEmployment sector: it significantly reduces the life satisfactionLife satisfaction of employeesEmployee in both the public and private sectorsPrivate sector, whereas its effect is negligible for self-employedSelf-employed individuals. Third, the likelihood of experiencing work-family conflictWork-family conflict is higher among workers with low education (elementary school), the younger generation, managers, employeesEmployee in the public sectorPublic sector, and self-employedSelf-employed individuals compared to their counterparts. Moreover, the determinants of work-family conflictWork-family conflict differ by employment sectorEmployment sector. For instance, longer work hoursWork hours increase the likelihood of experiencing work-family conflictWork-family conflict for employeesEmployee in both the public and private sectorsPrivate sector, while high household income responsibility increases this likelihood for self-employed individuals. The results indicate that work conditions and employment relationships differ between employeesEmployee and self-employedSelf-employed individuals, suggesting that the Chinese labor market is segmented into formal and informal sectors.