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Employment and the workplace. Analysis of unique comparative polling prepared by YouGov plc for Policy Network Fieldwork was undertaken 18-22 March 2011. Total sample size for the online survey was 1063 British, 1086 US, 1010 Swedish and 1184 German adults. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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www.policy-network.net
Employment and the workplace
Analysis of unique comparative polling prepared by YouGov plc for Policy Network
Fieldwork was undertaken 18-22 March 2011. Total sample size for the online survey was 1063 British, 1086 US, 1010
Swedish and 1184 German adults.
Full poll available at www.policy-network.net
Olaf CrammeDirector of Policy Network
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Political context
• Unemployment- Employment aftershock of the crisis: in the two years to Q1 2010, employment fell by 2.1% in the OECD area; unemployment rate increased by just over 50%, to 8.5% (17 million additional unemployed persons)
- Structural unemployment: prevalent in many countries pre-crisis
- High youth unemployment: Spain 37.9%, France 22.4%, UK 18.9%, Germany 11% (2009)
• Stagnant wages for low- & middle-income familiesE.g. in the US, from 1973 to 2010, annual incomes of the bottom 90% of families rose by only 10% in real terms; in Germany real monthly incomes fell between 2000 and 2009.
• Polarisation between good quality, high-pay and poor quality, low-pay jobs
• Persistent gender pay gap (UK: 10.2% for full-time employees) and pressures on family life
• Stalled progress on social mobility (Intra- vs inter-generational)
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Polling results
The following 3 sets of data show the extent of public pessimism in relation to some of these employment challenges:
- The market’s capacity to create jobs and opportunities
- Perceptions of the reality of equal opportunities
- The promise of higher education
=> This plays out in people’s priorities for the workplace
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Low estimation of the market’s capacity to provide jobs and
opportunities
“Competition keeps prices down”
Britain 50%United States 45%Sweden52%Germany 45%
“The market economy is the best way of providing jobs and opportunities to individuals”
Percentage selecting as one of the ADVANTAGES of the market economy:
Britain 21% United States 35% Sweden24%Germany 15%
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Pessimism about fair opportunity
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The broken promise of education?
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The primacy of job security
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“Job security matters more to me than any other benefits”
• Job security is more important to women than men
Female Male
Britain 46% 34%
US 41% 30%
Sweden 32% 23%
Germany 46% 32%
• Higher basic pay is more important to menFemale Male
Britain 29% 39%
US 29% 32%
Sweden 27% 31%
Germany 25% 30%
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Key political challenges
1. Is flexicurity still the right approach?
2. Is there a (new) trade-off between full employment and job security?
3. Is job quality as much of a problem as unemployment? Is polarisation an unavoidable characteristic of the knowledge economy?
4. Has the promise of higher education proved unviable?
