JOB QUALITY AND ITS LINKS WELL-BEING Hande Inanc, OECD Statistics - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

THE OECD JOB QUALITY FRAMEWORK: DEFINING, MEASURING AND ASSESSING JOB QUALITY AND ITS LINKS WELL-BEING

Hande Inanc, OECD Statistics Directorate INGRID Summer School, 9-13 May 2016 Quality of Working Life and Vulnerabilities

HOW GOOD IS YOUR JOB? MEASURING AND ASSESSING JOB QUALITY

OECD Better Life Initiative

3

4

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

• Laeken indicators (2001)
• BUSINESSEUROPE’s Job Quality Indicators (2001)
• ETUI’s job quality index (2008)
• EMCO’s job quality measure (2010)
• Eurofound’s Job Quality index (2012)
• UNECE’s handbook for Measuring Quality of Employment (2014)
• OECD’s Job Quality Framework (2015*)

*Launched in 2013

• G20 Labour Ministers’ Declaration (Sep 2015, Ankara): “Quality jobs are

important as a key driver of greater well-being for individuals and society”

• G20 Leaders Summit (Nov 2015, Antalya): “improving job quality among three

dimensions, namely promoting the quality of earnings, reducing labour market insecurity and promoting good working conditions and a health society”

The importance of job quality in the policy debate

• 1. What makes a quality job?

The OECD Job Quality Framework

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

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

economic performance, i.e. labour market performance should be

assessed in terms of more and better jobs

• Why job quality matters?

– key element of individual well-being (i.e. an end in its own right) – determines worker commitment and productivity (i.e. as a means to better economic performance)

• So far limited attention to job quality in policy debate due the

difficulties of defining and measuring it

– Multi-dimensional nature of job quality – Comparability of job quality indicators over time, across countries and groups

6

Challenges:

• Conceptual: job quality is multi-dimensional

– what are the key dimensions? What is the relationship between these dimensions? How each of these dimensions affects people’s well-being?

• Measurement: job quality measures should be outcome-based, i.e. work as

experienced by workers rather than procedures

– Both material (“work-related economic security”) and immaterial aspects (“quality

• f life at work”)

– Analysis should be both static (point-in-time) and dynamic (transitions, persistence)

• Perspective: Micro (focus primarily on the quality of outcomes for each

person)

– Requires analysing not only average, but also distribution – Requires looking at the role of workers, jobs, firms, environmental characteristics

7

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

8

Job quality, job quantity and well-being

Labour market security Quality of the work environment

Well-being

Labour market performance

Earnings quality Employment / unemployment

Job quantity Job quality

Under-employment

• 2. Measuring Job quality

2.1 Earnings quality

10

Measuring Earnings Quality:

• Earnings quality captures the extent to which earnings contribute

to workers' well-being in terms of average earnings and their distribution across the workforce.

Average earnings

• > measured as hourly earnings in

constant prices, at constant PPPs Earnings Inequality

• > Measured using generalised means

framework (Atkinson, 1970)

• Allows giving more weight to the bottom
• f the distribution, thereby taking account
• f both the level and its distribution

Earnings Quality

11

• Life satisfaction increases with the level of earnings

– Holds both across countries as well as between persons within countries

• For a given level of average earnings, overall well-being

tends to be higher the more equal its distribution

– Life satisfaction rises at a decreasing rate with earnings (“saturation effect”) – People tend to display an intrinsic dislike of high inequality in society (“inequality aversion”)

Earnings quality should take account of both average earnings and its distribution

Earnings Quality in the OECD countries

• Note. The data refer to: 2012 for France, Italy, Poland, Spain and Switzerland; and 2010 for Estonia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia and Turkey. Generalized means

approach is used as an aggregation tool to compute earnings quality measures, assuming a high inequality aversion. Source: OECD Job Quality database (2016).

PPP-adjusted gross hourly earnings in USD, 2013 or latest year available

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Earnings quality Average earnings Earnings inequality (right axis) USD, PPPs

%

• 2. Measuring Job Quality

2.2 Labour market (in)security

14

Measuring labour market (in)security: Unemployment risk and insurance

• Labour market security captures those aspects of economic

security related to the risks of job loss and its economic cost for

• workers. It is defined by the risks of unemployment and benefits

received in case of unemployment.

Unemployment risk

• probability of becoming unemployed
• probability of staying unemployed
• > measured using data on unemployment

inflows and outflows Effective unemployment insurance

• accessibility of benefits
• their generosity and maximum duration
• the progressivity of the tax system
• >use OECD benefit-recipiency database

and OECD taxes-benefits models

Expected cost of unemployment

15

Unemployment risk and insurance have important implications for well being

Estimated effects of unemployment risk on life satisfaction and the compensating effects of effective unemployment insurance.

• Note. The well-being effect is measured in terms of standard deviations in life satisfaction.

Source: OECD Employment Outlook 2014. OECD estimates based on the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) and the European Social Survey,

Labour market insecurity in the OECD countries

• Note. Data on Chile refers to 2011 instead of 2013.

Source: OECD Job Quality database (2016). Risk of becoming unemployed and its expected cost as a share of previous earnings, 2013 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Labour market insecurity Unemployment risk Unemployment insurance (right axis)

% %

• 2. Measuring Job quality

2.3 Quality of the working environment

Measuring quality of the working environment OECD’s approach to Quality of Working Environment

• Job demands aspects of the job that require sustained physical

and psychological efforts

• Job resources refer to those job attributes that lead to personal

accomplishment or that are instrumental in achieving work

18

19

• Depends on balance between job demands which impair health

and job resources which mitigate their effects

Measuring quality of the working environment

Job demands

• time pressure
• physical health risks
• (emotional demands)
• (workplace intimidation)

Job resources

• work autonomy & learning
• social support at work
• (good management practices)
• (task clarity)

Index of job strain

combination of excessive job demands & insufficient resources that increases risk of health impairment

Measuring quality of the working environment

20

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

• pportunities

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 Social support at work Colleagues help and support Managers help and support Workplace intimidation Verbal abuse Threats and humiliating behaviours Bullying or harassment Good management practices Well-defined work goals Feedbacks from manager Manager good at planning and organising work

Quality of the working environment in the OECD countries

• Note. Data on Turkey are based on results of the 2005 European Working Conditions Surveys (EWCS).

Source: OECD Job Quality database (2016) based on the 6th European Working Conditions Survey (Forthcoming) for 2015 and International Social Survey Program Work Orientations Module III for 2005.

Incidence of job strain, 2015

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Job strain Excessive demands Insufficient resources

% EU countries Other OECD countries (2005)

22

Job strain and physical health (I):

‘My work impairs my health’

10 20 30 40 50 60

High demands Low resources High demands High resources Low demands Low resources Low demands High resources

% Source: OECD Calculations using the EWCS 5th Wave

Job strain and physical health (I):

‘My work impairs my health’

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

IRL GBR NLD ITA BEL FIN DEU TUR DNK LUX FRA SWE NOR ESP PRT AUT CZE SVK GRC POL HUN EST SVN

All workers Workers in strained jobs

Source: OECD Calculations using the EWCS 5th Wave

24

Job strain and physical health (II):

‘total number of days absent from work for reasons of health problems?’

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

High demands Low resources High demands High resources Low demands Low resources Low demands High resources

Number of days

Source: OECD Calculations using the EWCS 5th Wave

Job strain and physical health (II):

‘total number of days absent from work for reasons of health problems?’

5 10 15 20 25 30

IRL GBR NLD ITA BEL FIN DEU TUR DNK LUX FRA SWE NOR ESP PRT AUT CZE SVK GRC POL HUN EST SVN

All workers Workers in strained jobs

Source: OECD Calculations using the EWCS 5th Wave

Specific dimensions of ‘subjective well- being’

http://www.oecd.org/statistics/guidelines-on-measuring-subjective-well-being.htm

“Good mental states, including all of the various evaluations, positive and negative, that people make of their lives, and the affective reactions of people to their experiences.”

26

Job demands and SWB

3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5

Work pressure Physical health risk factors Workplace intimidation

Positive affect

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 Work pressure Physical health risk factors Workplace intimidation

Negative affect

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Work pressure Physical health risk factors Workplace intimidation

Job Satisfaction

*Dark bars represent ‘high demands’ in each dimension

Source: EWCS 2010 Positive affect: Felt cheerful/good spirits, calm/relaxed, active/vigorous last 2 weeks Negative affect: Feel stress at work

27

Job resources and SWB

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Work autonomy Task clarity Management practices Colleagues support Job Satisfaction

3.8 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6

Work autonomy Task clarity Management practices Colleagues support Positive affect

2.7 2.8 2.8 2.9 2.9 3.0 3.0 3.1 3.1

Work autonomy Task clarity Management practices Colleagues support Negative affect

Source: EWCS 2010 Positive affect: Felt cheerful/good spirits, calm/relaxed, active/vigorous last 2 weeks Negative affect: Feel stress at work

*Dark bars represent ‘high resources’ in each dimension

28

• Job quality has increasingly became a prominent topic

in policy debate

• Its link with worker well-being is more and more

appreciated by policy makers

• Significant improvement in defining and measuring job

quality

• Data needs: comparably and timely international data

Summary

On average, a person from an OECD country spends 37 hours a week at work, and an increasingly larger share of their adult lives in paid-work. Therefore, work is strongly related to the quality of individuals’ lives and their well-being. Moreover, quality jobs are an important driver of increased labour force participation, productivity and economic performance. The OECD has developed a framework to measure and assess the quality of jobs that considers three objective and measurable

• dimensions. Together, they provide a comprehensive assessment of job quality.

 Earnings quality captures the extent to which earnings contribute to workers' well-being in terms of average earnings and their distribution across the workforce.  Labour market security captures those aspects of economic security related to the risks of job loss and its economic cost for workers. It is defined by the risks of unemployment and benefits received in case of unemployment.  Quality of the working environment captures non-economic aspects of jobs including the nature and content of the work performed, working-time arrangements and workplace

• relationships. These are measured as incidence of job strain characterised as high job

demands with low job resources.

Just released! New data show importance of quality as well as quantity of jobs and how both evolved during crisis

The project is a joint undertaking between the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs and the OECD Statistics Directorate. Tools Key findings: How good is your job? Measuring and assessing job quality (PDF) Job Quality Database Inventory on the Quality of the Working Environment For more information News Release: http://www.oecd.org/employment/the-crisis-has-had-a-lasting-impact-on-job-quality-new-oecd-figures-show.htm Job Quality page: http://www.oecd.org/employment/job-quality.htm Video: What is a good quality job?

Contact us: JobQuality@oecd.org

OECD Job Quality Database

OECD Inventory on the Quality of the Working Environment

THANK YOU HANDE.INANC@OECD.ORG