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

3

• 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

How good is your job?

1 Earnings quality

2 Labour market security

3 Quality of the work environment

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

8

Quality of the working environment in OECD countries

Source: 4th European Working Conditions Survey, Eurofound , and International Social Survey Programme – Work Orientations Module

9

Job strain and Well-being

Source: 5th European Working Conditions Survey, Eurofound (2010).

How good is your job?

A statistical portrait of job quality

in OECD countries

11

How do countries compare?

12

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

13

• 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?

14

• 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

15

• 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

16

• For further information on OECD work on job quality

please contact:

– Sandrine Cazes at sandrine.cazes@oecd.org

– Hande Inanc at hande.inanc@oecd.org

– Alexander Hijzen alexander.hijzen@oecd.org

– Anne Saint-Martin at anne.saintmartin@oecd.org

Thank you!