Precarious or Decent Work? Perceived Working Conditions and Life Satisfaction of SME Workers in Sylhet, Bangladesh

This study measures key indicators of perceived precarity and decent working conditions and their relative effects on life satisfaction of workers in small and medium-sized enterprises. Using a random sample survey, we interviewed 103 workers in four districts of Sylhet division in Bangladesh. Utilizing Smart PLS application for structural equation modeling, we iterated the samples 1000 times which resulted in a new sample size standing at 499. We used a Likert-type five-point scaling technique, with appropriate items related to the latent constructs of the model, for path analysis. We found perceived precariousness has the highest causal relations with a path coefficient of 0.706 with social dialogue (an indicator of decent working conditions) followed by 0.539 with working hour issue, 0.345 with life satisfaction and 0.301 with the unacceptable work issue. The importance-performance map analysis confirms that perceived precarity is the most critical construct for worker’s life satisfaction. Thus, in a ceteris paribus situation, an increase of one point in the performance on the perceived precarity is expected to increase in the performance on the life satisfaction by a total effect level of 0.428. Therefore, we recommend further attention should be paid by the policymakers to the issue of consciousness of the precarity at the workplace for a better life satisfaction of workers.