Pay rises 'don't make us happy'

Better pay does not make workers happier, say researchers

A fatter salary or a meaty bonus is not the easy route to happiness, a study in the Economic Journal has said.

The study's authors said a worker would need an 800,000% rise in income to gain just a slight increase in happiness.

The study, which involved questioning 7,500 people repeatedly in the 1990s, suggested greater wealth had little effect on happiness.

Rather, people with happy personalities were more likely to be richer, than the other way round, it said.

The researchers Ada Ferr-i-Carbonell of the University of Amsterdam and Paul Frijters of the Australian National University said it "raises the question of why individuals expend so much effort on obtaining more income".

The research also suggested that having a steady partner could increase happiness.

But, in a chicken-and-egg-like twist, those who are already happy are more likely to find steady partners than those who are miserable.

"It has been said that those with steady partners are happier, therefore steady partnerships make you happy," they said.

"This neglects the real possibility that people with steady partners may have been happy before they found them and that it is indeed relatively happy people for whom it is easier to find steady partners."