policy seems therefore to be critical in mitigating negative shocks in both income and wellbeing, an issue discussed in the conclusion.

_Any job is overall better for one’s subjective wellbeing than no job_ . It is important to also ask if it is enough for the government to simply reduce unemployment irrespective of the quality or type of jobs. This data set allows disaggregation by 15 occupational types relative to being un/employed to explore this question. Regression results here indicate that there is no single profession that explains as much of a reduction in one’s subjective wellbeing as being unemployed, not even those types of occupations known to be of low quality such as work as non-farm owning laborers in the agriculture sector. That is, any type of job (from professional and technician occupations to domestic service, street vending and on-the-farm jobs) is better for one’s subjective wellbeing than remaining unemployed.

_Public sector workers are more satisfied than those in the private sector_ . With non-farm owning farmers as the reference group, people who are currently working in any of the fourteen other occupations categorized in the survey using ILO classifications are more satisfied with their lives (11 of which are statistically significant). In analyzing different occupational groups, the relative importance of one’s level of completed education on their quality of life reduces as workers’ levels of skills and competencies are being captured in their profession. The most satisfied workers in the country are government officials, then public workers in security (e.g. police and firepersons) followed by professionals and intellectuals, whereas non-farm owning farmers, domestic service workers, _obreros_ and then all other types of agriculture workers are the least satisfied (in that order)—with all other factors such as their income held constant. Lower job standards and less social recognition could possibly be driving the lower subjective wellbeing associated with the latter jobs. Job security appears to also be an important component. Being a public sector wage worker has a strong and significant effect on one’s quality of life relative to those in the private sector (see also Luechinger _et al._ 2008) and even more so than the self-employed, while controlling for the other metrics.

_Good health and access to water and sanitation are associated with people being more satisfied with their lives, all else equal including income levels_ . Having poor public health service delivery in your municipality has a strong, negative effect on subjective wellbeing (more so than poor public education service delivery) as shown in Table 1. This may be because good health can help minimize negative feelings and experiences like pain and worry. Being a member of a health plan makes people more satisfied, likely given that those without health insurance are more prone to be affected by medical costs while illness can lead to economic insecurity and debt. Having potable water at home and, in particular, a toilet inside the home help to increase the quality of people’s lives. A lack of improved water and toilet facilities is known to cause a higher incidence of sickness and disease, including diarrhea, typhoid and cholera. Other studies have shown that health is more strongly correlated to happiness than income (Graham 2009; Layard _et al._ 2012).

_Personal security can affect people’s wellbeing._ Nineteen point eight percent of survey respondents reported being a victim of delinquency in the past 12 months.<sup>14</sup> As in most places in the world, being a victim of delinquency in the past year, or feeling unsafe at home or in your community from possibly being a victim of an assault or robbery, significantly reduces subjective wellbeing in Colombia. This is likely since crime, muggings and the like

> 14 2010 data from Latinobarometer (2010) shows that 31.5% of respondents reported that they or a family member have been a victim of delinquency in Colombia.

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