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
http://www.cee-recherche.fr/fr/c_pub3.htm

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 2005-2006, 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.

Mean Wage in Euros
Minimum Wage in Euros
50000
1400
45000
1200
40000
35000
1000
30000
800
25000
20000
600
15000
400
10000
200
5000
0
0
CONTI
NORTH
LIBERAL
SOUTH
CEEC
BALTIC
Cyprus+Malta
CONTI
NORTH
LIBERAL
SOUTH
CEEC
BALTIC
Cyprus+Malta
25
20
15
CONTI
BALTIC
SOUTH
LIBERAL
CEEC
NORTH
10
5
0
In-work at risk of poverty
% of fixed-term contracts
Long-term unemployment rate
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.
Index of employment quality
2
1,8
Austria
Belgium
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
1,6
1,4
1,2
1
0,8
0,6
0,4
0,2
0
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
Source: LFS
2001
2002
2003
2004
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…