Karasek (1979) defined a stressful job as a job with an imbalance between the demands of the job and the control one can exercise in that job (a ‘high strain job’). Previous research showed that starters in a high strain job are indeed less satisfied. They are also not compensated for the...

In this paper we test whether starters in a stressful job get a compensation for the burden they face. The compensating wage differentials model predicts a wage compensation for accepting a job with high workload. The Karasek model (1979) highlights the importance of a balance between demands...