Download - Well-Being as Business Purpose?, Cazes
Sandrine CAZES, Statistics Directorate
OECD
HOW GOOD IS YOUR JOB?
MEASURING AND ASSESSING JOB
QUALITY
QUALITY OF THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT
2
• Why does job quality matter?
– A key element of individual well-being (i.e. an end in its own right)
– Determines labour force participation, worker commitment and productivity (i.e. a means to greater economic performance)
• Despite the importance of job quality, it has received relatively limited attention in the international policy debate (Assessment of policies and institutions has tended to focus on their impact on job quantity, e.g. Reassessed Jobs Strategy, Europe 2020)
• A major obstacle to giving more prominence to job quality has been the difficulties of defining and measuring it
– Multi-dimensional nature of job quality
– Comparability of job quality indicators over time, across countries and population groups
Background and motivation
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• Job quality refers to those aspects of employment that contribute to
worker well-being inherently multi-dimensional construct
• Drawing on the literature on well-being, the OECD Job quality
framework identifies 3 key and complementary dimensions of job
quality:
1. Earnings
2. Labour market security
3. Quality of the working environment
What makes a good job?
4
• Focus on outcomes experienced by workers (e.g.
employment security, rather than employment protection
legislation) => To evaluate the role of policies and
institutions
• Concentrate on individual workers => To assess
inequalities
• Favours objective features of job quality => To ensure
better comparability of outcomes across countries
Principles for the
Measurement of job quality
6
• The literature on occupational health provides strong empirical
evidence on the link between the quality of work organization and
workplace relationships and workers’ well-being
– At work, employees face various demands linked to their job that
require sustained physical, emotional and psychological efforts
– They have at their disposal resources that are conductive to personal
accomplishment or are instrumental in achieving work goals
– What matters is the balance between job demands which tend to impair
health and job resources which tend to mitigate the effects of demands
• This is what the Quality of Working Environment wants to capture
What the literature says…
7/30
Which definition?
Job demands – time pressure at work
– physical health risk factors
– workplace intimidation
Job resources – work autonomy & learning
– good management practices
– good relationships with colleagues
Job strain defined as a combination of excessive job demands and insufficient resources that is likely to cause health impairment
Job strain is the % of employees with job demands > job resources
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Quality of the working environment in OECD countries
Source: 4th European Working Conditions Survey, Eurofound , and International Social Survey Programme – Work Orientations Module
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How do groups compare?
Job quality outcomes by socio-demographic group (gender, age, education)
Average over 23 European countries, 2010
0
4
8
12
16
20
Earnings quality
PPP-adjusted gross hourly earnings
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Labour market insecurity
Risk of income loss due to unemployment risk, as a % of
prev ious earnings
0
5
10
15
20
25
Quality of the working environment
Incidence of job strain
Job quality outcomes by socio-demographic group (gender, age, education)
Average over 23 European countries, 2010
0
4
8
12
16
20
Earnings quality
PPP-adjusted gross hourly earnings
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Labour market insecurity
Risk of income loss due to unemployment risk, as a % of
prev ious earnings
0
5
10
15
20
25
Quality of the working environment
Incidence of job strain
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• Youth and low-skilled tend to have weak job quality outcomes for all
three dimensions and relatively low employment rates
• At the opposite, high-qualified workers have both better access to
employment and of greater quality
• Women have lower earnings, but have otherwise similar outcomes to
men
• Non-standard work tends to be associated with weaker job quality
outcomes but not necessarily all
– Temporary work is not only negatively associated with earnings quality and
labour market security but also with QWE.
– Part-time work is associated with lower earnings quality (in terms of hourly
wages) and labour market security, while QWE tends to be higher.
Which workers hold quality jobs?
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• Have a broader conceptual and operational framework
to assess the effects of labour market policies in
quantitative and qualitative terms => allows a more
comprehensive evaluation
• New perspectives and attention devoted to important
areas such as occupational safety and health, Human
Resources practices, preventing actions, etc.
Implications for policy
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• Analytical work
– Extend the analysis of job quality to emerging economies
– Introduce a more dynamic perspective that places emphasis on
the prospects for career advancement provided by jobs
– Assess labour market performance in terms of the quantity and
quality of jobs and the role of policies and institutions
• Statistical agenda
– Inventory for Job quality
– OECD database on job quality (with guidelines on the
measurement of Job Quality)
OECD work ahead
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• For further information on OECD work on job quality
please contact:
– Sandrine Cazes at [email protected]
– Hande Inanc at [email protected]
– Alexander Hijzen [email protected]
– Anne Saint-Martin at [email protected]
Thank you!