International Conference ADDRESSING QUALITY OF WORK IN EUROPE Sofia, Bulgaria October 2012 “Satisfaction with working conditions and work organisation in Europe and Greece, ” Stavros P. Gavroglou National Institute of Labour & Human Resources

Satisfaction with working conditions in EU15 and especially in Greece Comparing satisfaction between different sectors, genders, types of contract, occupational groups, skill levels Evolution over time ( ) Relationship with forms of work organisation and other variables Source: European Foundation’s EWCS (1 st -5 th waves) – Survey mapping tool

“Subjective” vs “objective” assessments of working conditions – “Satisfaction” no less accurate than objective measurments of quality of work (issue of weights) – “Satisfaction” depends on culture, norms and expectations, threat of unemployment Political-mobilisational implications of workers’ assessments – Implications for cooperation-contestation

Satisfaction in EU15: high and stable

Satisfaction (“very satisfied” + satisfied) has remained unchanged from 1995 to 2010: 85.3% to 85.6% of the total employed

Flexible (dis)satisfaction?

Flexible work seems indeed to be accompanied by worse working conditions (lower labour standards?) than work under a “standard”, indefinite-duration contract. But the differences are probably not as large as one might have expected

Gendered satisfaction?

The aggregate of men declaring they were “satisfied” and “very satisfied” with their working conditions in 2010 was just 0.3% higher than the respective percentage of women, while in 1995 the difference was 0.4%

Services more satisfactory than Industry?

Satisfaction is greater in Services than in Industry But the differences are small (and declining) 86.2% of those employed in Services vs. 83.8% of those in Industry are satisfied SERVICES: Transport, storage and communication; Real estate, renting and business activities, consulting; Public administration and defense, compulsory social security; Education; Health and social work; Other community, social and personal service activities; Activities of households; Extraterritorial organisations and bodies. INDUSTRY: Agriculture, Fishing, Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity-gas-water, and Construction).

Occupation (and skill) matters High-skill clerical: Legislators, senior officials and managers; professionals (ISCO 1,2) Low-skill clerical: Technicians and associate professionals; clerks; service workers and shop and market sales workers.(ISCO 3,4,5) High-skill manual: Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers; craft and related trades workers.(ISCO 6,7) Low-skill manual: Plant and machine operators, and assemblers; elementary occupations; armed forces occupations.(ISCO 8,9,10)

Satisfaction with working conditions varies significantly according to the type of occupation and level of skill involved Clerical workers are more satisfied than manual workers, and high-skill workers are more satisfied than low-skill workers. High-skilled clerical workers have the highest level of satisfaction (89,6%), while low-skilled manual workers have the lowest (77,5%).

Satisfied Europeans, dissatisfied Greeks

Groups of countries by levels of satisfaction: --Denmark, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Austria and Ireland (90% to 95%). --Germany, Luxembourg, Finland and Sweden (85% to 90%). --Italy, Spain, Portugal and France (80% to 85%). --Greece is in a class by itself (63.2%).

Satisfaction in Greece: low and stable

The level of satisfaction in Greece increased from 61.7% to 63.2%

Greece: flexible dissatisfaction

The gap in satisfaction between regular and flexible employees is larger in Greece than in the EU15 (71.2%-62.0% to 86.7%-79.8%)

Greece: women more satisfied than men

Satisfaction among women is higher than among men, 65.3% vs. 61.8%, but no historical trend is discernible.

Greece: Services more satisfactory than Industry

Services-Industry satisfaction gap is much larger in Greece than in EU15

Greece: clerical workers more satisfied than manual

The differences in satisfaction between occupational groups are larger in Greece than in EU15

Satisfaction in EU15-Greece: Is it the wages?

Correlation of satisfaction with wages:

Satisfaction in EU15: Is it the work organisation? (I)

Satisfaction in EU15-Greece: Is it the work organisation? (II)

Satisfaction in EU15-Greece: Is it learning new things at work?

Correlation with learning new things at work: 0.749

Learning in Greece and EU15, by sector

Learning in Greece and EU15, by occupational group

Workers whose work involves learning new things are found more rarely Greek than European in all occupational categories. This “learning gap” is more pronounced among manual workers. While your occupation affects whether you learn new things at work, the latter is more affected by the national (work organisational) context in which you work.

The diffusion of jobs that involve learning new things is not only a characteristic of an economy based on knowledge but also of an economy based on workers who feel satisfied with their working conditions.

THANK YOU! Stavros P. Gavroglou