ix
work situation their general level of job satisfaction is unlikely to be
affected here.
There was little variation between the subgroups in the sample. There was a slight tendency for older women to be more satisfied with their
income level (100 of older women rated this as good or average compared
to 78, 87, and 82 of younger men, older men and younger women) and their employer (89 of older women rated their employer as good compared to 56 of the younger men, 61 of the older men and 62 of the younger
women). With regard to welfare benefits, not surprisingly the
respondents in the large firms who, as we have seen, received far more welfare benefits, more frequently rated this aspect of their jobs good (54) than did respondents in the small firms (18).
The workers in the sample were also asked in connection with their
present job in what way they felt aspects of their jobs would be best
5
improved. Table 7 below gives the results. Table 7 shows joint
consultation to be easily the most popular with 42 of the respondents
favouring it. Employer's initiative and government legislation are the
next most frequently mentioned but are some way behind joint consulta- tions with 26 and 21 respondents. Only one respondent chose trade union
bargaining and respected intermediaries, despite Jarvie and Agassi's propositions concerning the importance of "face" and Chinese family
structure, attracted only six respondents. There was some considerable
variation with the sub groups in the sample here. Joint consultation
was in fact the first choice of only older men and younger women.
Younger men favoured government legislation while older women, in line
with their more deferential attitudes, favoured employer's initiative.
There were slightly larger differences between the skilled and other
workers. The skilled workers in fact preferred employer's initiative,
perhaps reflecting their better market situation, while the semi-skilled
and unskilled groups went for joint consultation.