Hande Inanc

OECD Statistics Directorate

HOW GOOD IS YOUR JOB?

MEASURING AND ASSESSING JOB

QUALITY

CEE-Ingrid Summer School “Quality of Working Life and

Vulnerabilities”, Noisy Le Grand, June 5th 2015

• From how many jobs to how good jobs are...

– ILO Manual on Concepts and Definitions of Decent Work Indicators (ILO 2012)

– UNECE Framework for Measuring Quality of Employment (UNECE 2014)

– 2014 G20 Brisbane Communiqué from Ministers of Labour and Employment

– Eurofound’s EWCS’s and the Job Quality framework

– EMCO’s Quality in Work Thematic Review

– ETUI’s Job Quality framework in Europe paper

The importance of job quality in the

policy debate

OECD PROJECT ON

JOB QUALITY, LABOUR MARKET PERFORMANCE AND WELL-

BEING

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• Launched in October 2013

• Aim: to bring job quality to the forefront of the policy debate on economic performance

– Labour market performance should be assessed in terms of more and better jobs – Part of quest to go beyond GDP by focusing on well being (OECD How is life?)

• Why job quality matters

– It is a key element of individual well-being (i.e. an end in its own right)

– Determines participation, worker commitment and productivity (i.e. as a means to greater economic performance)

• Challenges faced by the international policy debate

– Multi-dimensional nature of job quality

– Comparability of job quality indicators over time and across countries/ groups

OECD project on job quality, labour market performance and well-being

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• Focus on outcomes experienced by workers

– Consistent with well-being perspective

– Allows evaluating the role of policies and institutions

• Concentrate on individual workers

– To take account of the distribution of job quality outcomes

– Allows assessing to what extent poor outcomes on one dimensions are

associated with poor outcomes on another

• Favours objective (including self-reported) features of job quality

– Ensures better comparability of outcomes across countries and time

Principles for the measurement of job quality

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Defining the main dimensions of job quality

Labour market

security

Quality of the

work environment

Well-being

Labour market performance

Earnings

quality

Employment /

unemployment

Job quantity Job quality

Income

Jobs

Housing

Personal activities incl. work

Insecurity, economic and physical

Social connections and relationships

Subjective well-being

Political voice and governance

Health Health

Education Education

Work-life balance

Civic engagement

Social relationships

Work environment

Labour market security Personal security

Earnings Material living

conditions

Well-being OECD

Job quality OECD

Well-being Stiglitz, Sen & Fitoussi

• Earnings Quality

• Average Earnings

• Earnings Inequality

• Labour Market Security

• Unemployment Risk

• Unemployment Insurance

• Quality of the Working Environment (Job Strain)

• High Job Demands

• Low Job Resources

OECD Job Quality Framework

Job Quality and Job Quantity in OECD countries

Normalised score between 0 and 1

10

How does labour market performance

compare across countries?

Job quality outcomes by socio-demographic groups

0

10

20

30

40

50

0

5

10

15

20

25

Labour market insecurity (left scale)

Unemployment risk

Insurance

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Earnings quality

Average earnings

Inequality (right scale)

1.0

1.4

1.8

2.2

2.6

3.0

3.4

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

Incidence of job strain (left scale)

Average number of demands

Average number of resources

Cross-country averages, 2010

Source: OECD Employment Outlook 2014

Chapter 3: How Good is Your Job: Measuring and Assessing Job Quality

• Enhancing Job Quality in Emerging Economies (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Turkey)

(OECD Employment Outlook 2015, Forthcoming)

• The Quality Of Working Lives: Earnings Mobility, Labour Market Risk And Long-term Inequality

(OECD Employment Outlook 2015, Forthcoming)

• Job Quality Database (by country and by socio-demographic groups)

(OECD.Stat, Forthcoming)

OECD’s Job Quality Project – Extensions

QUALITY OF THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT

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Job Demands-Resources model

Measuring the Quality of Working

Environment – Job Strain

Job strain, as the result of…

… too many job demands … and too few job resources

Time

pressure

Work usually more than 50 hours per week

Difficult to take an hour or two off during

working hours for personal or family matters

Work at very high speed and to tight

deadline

Work

autonomy and

learning

opportunities

Can choose or change the order of

tasks

Can choose or change methods of

work

Job involves learning new things

Employer provided training or on-the-

job training

Physical

health risk

factors

Tiring and painful positions

Carrying or moving heavy loads

Exposed to vibrations from hand tools,

machinery

Exposure to high noise

Exposure to high or low temperature

Good

workplace

relationships

Feel “at home” at work and have very

good friends at work

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Quality of Working Environment in the OECD

Correlation coefficients across countries

0.86*** -0.90***

0.73*** -0.88***

0.80*** -0.76***

EWCS: European Working Conditions Surv ey . ISSP: International Social Surv ey Programme.

Time pressure Work autonomy and learning opportunities

Phy sical health risk factors Good w orkplace relationships

Note: Job strain: one job demands w ith no job resources, or tw o demands w ith only one job resource or none. High lev el of job demands: tw o job demands.

High lev el of job resources: tw o job resource.

***, **, *: statistically significant at 1%, 5% and 10% lev els, respectiv ely .

Source: Eurofound (2007), Fourth European Working Conditions Surv ey , Publications Office of the European Union, Lux embourg; and International Social Surv ey

Programme Work Orientations Module (2005).

A reduced job strain index for 32 OECD countries

Incidence of job strain (2005)

Betw een the incidence of job strain and that of: Betw een the incidence of job strain and that of:

High lev el of job demands (tw o demands) High lev el of job resources (tw o resources)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80Combined EWCS and ISSP data EWCS data ISSP data (rescaled)

Correlation between EWCS and ISSP data = 0.89***

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• Country coverage

• Collecting Agencies

• Frequency and timeliness of data

• Thematic coverage

• Insufficiency of official statistics

QWE and data challenges

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Number of countries

covered

(all surveys and years

pooled)

Number of surveys

(all years pooled)

Number of years

covered

(all surveys pooled)

Time period covered

(all surveys pooled)

Physical risk factors 70 7 16 1989-2014

Physical demands 51 4 15 1989-2014

Work intensity 115 7 16 1989-2014

Intimidation and discrimination at workplace 70 3 9 1996-2014

Emotional demands and work stress 70 6 13 1989-2014

Subjective job insecurity 90 5 12 1989-2014

Task discretion and autonomy 52 5 12 1989-2014

Training and learning opportunities 51 5 8 1996-2010

Opportunity for career advancement 133 5 9 1989-2010

Opportunity for self-realisation 139 2 8 2005-2013

Organisational participation and workplace voice 133 4 10 1996-2014

Intrinsic rewards 51 5 7 1989-2014

Good managerial practices 124 3 8 2005-2014

Task clarity and performance feedback 98 2 3 1996-2010

Social support and good relationships at work 134 5 12 1989-2014

Work-life balance 52 6 11 1989-2014

Unsocial work schedule 40 4 8 1991-2014

Flexibility of working hours 55 6 10 1989-2014

OECD Inventory of survey questions on

the QWE

Inventory Coverage Summary

Source: Information extracted from the OECD Inventory for the Quality of the Working Environment, as available at

http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=JOBQ. The Inventory consists of OECD’s classifications based on

questionnaire sheets obtained from survey websites

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OECD Inventory of survey questions on

the QWE

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OECD Inventory of survey questions on

the QWE OECD INVENTORY ON THE QUALITY OF WORKING ENVIRONMENT

QUESTION ITEMS ON:

TASK DISCRETION AND AUTONOMY

* Slight change in the question format between years. Refer to the questionnaire for details.

EWCS European Working Conditions Survey • Are you able to choose or change your order of tasks? • Are you able to choose or change your methods of work? • Are you able to choose or change your speed or rate of work? • You can influence your working hours • You have influence over the choice of your working partners

2010 (Q50A) 2005 (q24a), 2000 (q25_1), 1996 (q22a) 1991 (Q13A) 2010 (Q50B) 2005 (q24b), 2000 (q25_2), 1996 (q22B) 2010 (Q50C) 2005 (q24c), 2000 (q25_3), 1996 (q22C) 1991 (Q13b) 2000 (q26_4) 2010 (Q51E) 2005 (q25d)

1-2 (Yes-No) 1-2 (Yes-No) 1-2 (Yes-No) 1-2 (Yes-No) 1-5 (Almost always - Almost never)

ESS European Social Survey • How much the management at your work allows you to decide how daily work is organised? • How much the management at your work allows you to choose/change pace of work

2004, 2010 (wkdcorga) 2004, 2010 (wkdcpce)

1-10 (No influence - Complete influence) 1-10 (No influence - Complete influence)

ISSP International Social Survey Programme • Agree or not: I can work independently • Which of the following statements best describes how your daily work is organised?* (1) I am free to decide how my daily work is organised (2) I can decide how my daily work is organised, within certain limits (3) I am not free to decide how my daily work is organised.

2005 (V33) 1997 (V14e) 1989 (V16f) 2005 (V42) 1989 (V18)

1-5 (Strongly agree - Strongly disagree) [Choose one]

EQLS European Quality of Life Survey • How much do you agree or disagree: I have a great deal of influence in deciding how to do my work

2007 (q10_3) 2003 (Q12c)

1-5 (Strongly agree - Strongly disagree)

Eurobarameter – Flash Euromodule 398 • More specifically, how satisfied are you with the autonomy you have?

2014 (Q5AB4) 1-4 (Very satisfied - Not at all satisfied)

RECAP: OECD JOB QUALITY FRAMEWORK

LABOUR MARKET AND SOCIAL

POLICIES

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Related policy areas

Dimension Main Labour Market and Social Polices

Earnings Quality

Wage setting systems

In-work benefit schemes

Minimum wage

Labour Market Security

Employment protection legislation

Tax and benefits systems

Active labour market policies

Quality of the Working

Environment

Working time regulations

Health related labour laws

Sickness insurance schemes

Occupational health care services

Labour inspection bodies

Vocational training

Job Quality:

• Is a key element of individual well-being (i.e. an end in its own right)

• Determines participation, worker commitment and productivity (i.e. as a

means to greater economic performance)

THANK YOU

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