Job Quality in EMCO Anette Björnsson, DG EMPL/C1 – EMCO support team, secretary to the Indicators' Group under EMCO 1

Content of presentation History of the discussions in EMCO 2 step approach The agreed indicator list The future development. 2

History of the job quality discussions in EMCO: Discussions have been going on for long – at least since 2001 The point re-entered the agenda of EMCO again from 2010 and the last years it has been extensively discussed The main work has taken place in the EMCO's Indicators' Group as the focus has been on how to measure job quality 3

Recent history in EMCO IG: In autumn 2011 it was as a starting point proposed that the job quality should be centered around the following 4 main areas: Socio-economic security Education and training Working conditions Work-life and gender balance Socio-economic context 4

Recent history in EMCO IG: After several meetings to discuss the issue EMCO IG came up with the definition of the job quality that you see in the following 3 slides. After the definition there will be a description of our method how to define job quality. The definition has been discussed with the social partners at EU level and with Eurofound that has a substantial expertise in this area. 5

First step approach to define the most important indicators Started out with the overall indicator list from the work carried out a few years earlier. This work was inspired by work done in ETUI and the DG EMPL publication Employment in Europe In the first place a statistical test was carried out concerning the indicators/questions to choose. Questions focused on: -significant explanatory power -Correlation 6

Resulted in The main source is EWCS Now 4 areas instead of 5 Synthetic indicators The factor indicators in some of the sub- dimensions 7

Factor instead of several indicators Several factors Non-exposure to unhealthy environment (9 sub- questions) Healthy physical conditions (5 sub-questions) Non-exposure to humiliation, harassment etc (2 different questions with 3 sub-questions each) Self-reliance/self-responsibility (3 questions – total of 12 sub-questions) 8

Why factors – example unhealthy environment 9

2nd step defining the indicator list The second step was to analyse the main questions that would cover the main areas (11 in total) These were used to further test statistically if they were significant in explaining job quality 10

Logistic regression on micro data from the 5th EWCS (2010) Method: Find a dependent variable ("What is job quality?") Find a set of appropriate (that is statistically significant) independent variables from the full indicator list in the EWCS 11 How to find the variables to measure the job quality

Selected independent variables: Plus: 9 socio-demographic control variables 12

Regression of satisfaction with overall working conditions (Q76) – Explanatory variable: Q77b. How much do you agree or disagree with statements describing some aspects of your job - I am well paid for the work I do? Estimated regression coefficients Very significant Reference category: Strongly agree 13

Regression of satisfaction with overall working conditions (Q76) – Explanatory variable: Q51n. Select the response which best describes your work situation - You experience stress in your work Estimated regression coefficients Very significant Reference category: "Never" experiencing stress 14

Regression of satisfaction with overall working conditions (Q76) – Explanatory variable: Q41. In general, do your working hours fit in with your family or social commitments outside work very well, well, not very well or not at all well? Estimated regression coefficients Very significant Reference category: Not at all well 15

People tend to be more satisfied with their overall working conditions if (1) they are females. they are older. they have higher (managers, professionals) rather than lower/elementary occupations. they work in the public, not in the private sector. they work in smaller rather than bigger organisations. they work under indefinite rather than fixed term or (especially) temporary agency contracts. 16

People tend to be more satisfied with their overall working conditions if (2) they consider to be well paid. they think their career prospects are good. they consider to be neither over-, nor under- qualified. they do not consider their health or safety be at risk because of their job. they did not work when sick over the past 12 months. they experience stress on the job rather rarely than often 17

People tend to be more satisfied with their overall working conditions if (3) their own work pace does not depend on the work done by colleagues. they have influence on decisions which are important for their work. there is an employee acting as employee representative. their working hours fit better to family and social commitments outside work. their immediate boss is a woman. 18

There are significant country fixed effects: Compared to Germany, in most EU countries overall satisfaction is much lower (the lowest in CZ, LT, SI, BG). Exception: SE, DK, CY were it is vice versa. Job satisfaction is by far the lowest in South-Eastern countries outside the EU. 19

General conclusions: Selected EWCS indicators -Cover the agreed sub-areas of Job Quality -Are strongly significant and have high explanatory power for the individual feeling about one's general working conditions/job quality People's subjective feeling is relevant - EWCS information on the indicator list should be kept! People's overall feeling is coherent with the detailed picture. 20

Indicator list 21

Indicator list, cont. 22

Indicator list, cont. 23

The future of the job quality Job quality will have its own module in the database that is used to measure the labour market for EMCO Still need to discuss how we will use this module in our assessment The module can only be updated every 5 years Insecurity on the continuation of the variables 24

Thank you for your attention Contact details: Anette Björnsson 25