Joy of labor

The joy of labor consists of pleasurable feelings that come from labor. However, this pleasure is not enough to render the work as satisfactory as leisure, for then it would cease to be work and become leisure. The worker might, in that case, even pay his employer for the privilege of working. A person would not engage in labor unless it offered mediate gratification (e.g. through what a paycheck can buy) in addition to the joy of labor. Ludwig von Mises cautions that "Sometimes a superficial observer may believe that labor performed by other people gives rise to immediate gratification because he himself would like to engage in a kind of play which apparently imitates the kind of labor concerned."

The joy of labor can come from the perversion of work (as when a politician uses his post for the enjoyment of power as an end in itself, rather than applying himself to pursuing the good of the people); the satisfaction of completing a task (which can include the proud aesthetic appreciation of his skill and its product); and the satisfaction the worker feels because his work goes so well that through it he can earn a living for himself and his family.