Job quality in the EES: what indicators and what results? Christine Erhel Université Paris 1, Paris School of Economics Centre d’Etudes de l’Emploi ETUC Conference, Brussels, 28th of February

The results presented here come from a series of studies that have been developed at the Centre d’Etudes de l’Emploi… Davoine L. and Erhel (2006), « Monitoring Employment Quality in Europe : European Employment Strategy and Beyond », Document de travail n°66, Centre d’études de l’emploi Davoine L. and Erhel (2007), « La qualité de l’emploi en Europe : une approche comparative et dynamique », Document de travail n°86, Centre d’études de l’emploi And from an ongoing study for the DG Employment: « A Taxonomy of European Labour Markets Using Quality Indicators”, Davoine L., Erhel C., and Guergoat M.

1- Job quality in the EES: Laeken indicators in perspective Laeken definition - 10 dimensions: intrinsic job quality; skills, life long learning and career development; gender equality; health and safety at work; flexibility and security; inclusion and access to the labour market; work organization and work life balance; social dialogue and workers involvement; diversity and non discrimination; overall economic performance and productivity; - with related indicators, that can be calculated using the main European surveys (ECHP, EU-SILC, LFS…).

Job quality in the EES: Laeken indicators in perspective Other definitions: ILO concept of « decent work »… Implies four dimensions: Labour rights, Employment, Social protection, Social dialogue  Some common dimensions and indicators, but the ILO concept includes wage level and focuses more on work security …and a variety of economic and socio-economic approaches, focusing on: - Part time and wages (American and Canadian index of employment quality, CIBC World Markets) - Content of work and working conditions, including the intensity of work (Green, 2006) - Mobility on the labour market and around the labour market (Transitional Labour Markets) - Job satisfaction (Happiness economics)

Job quality in the EES: Laeken indicators in perspective What can we learn from this literature for analysing EU definition? - Some convergence with the European approach: job quality is multi-dimensional, and it is wider than traditional working condition studies - Some European specificities: the coverage of gender and work family conciliation issues - Some « missing » indicators in the present European definition: social dialogue, wages (level + inequalities) - Some dimensions need complementary indicators: training, working conditions.

2-Some empirical results from job quality indicators A global approach using all Laeken indicators, for the years , reveals some heterogeneity among EU countries concerning job quality, and indicates synergies between job quality and labour market quantitative performances. Besides, it suggests several paths for a good quality of jobs.

Some results from job quality indicators: Laeken indicators Source: Davoine, Erhel, Guergoat

Some results from job quality indicators An alternative approach, focusing on four disagregate dimensions, provides complementary information and results: - Differences in wages and working poor shares are very important in Europe, and should be integrated in any approach of job quality; - Training intensity (i.e. hours and expenditure) differs strongly among countries. It differentiates the UK from Northern countries (and especially from DK, which is characterized by the highest level of investment in training); - Working conditions cannot be summarised by the accidents at work: this rate does not coincide with other important indicators, like work intensity or even risks at work; - Gender indicators suggest the existence of some trade off between employment rates and segregation.

Some results from job quality indicators A dynamic approach (synthetic index) shows: - An increasing trend in job quality since 1995; - And confirms the existence of a positive correlation between employment rates and job quality.

Conclusions and recommendations Job quality appears like a good policy goal, and should appear more explicitely in the EES guidelines: - Job quality is associated with good labour market performances, and there is no apparent trade off between work quality and a dynamic labour market; - Job quality matters for workers’ satisfaction and citizens’ well being; - A good job quality may be achieved through different pathways, and is consistent with the existence of heterogeneous institutions and policies models in Europe; - Existing differences between EU 27 countries are important.

Conclusions and recommendations Laeken indicators offer some grid for analysis, but should be modified: -to focus on more specifically on qualitative aspects of work, excluding general performances of the labour market; - to take into account missing indicators: wages (level and inequalities), intensity of training…