Quality%20of%20Employment%20from%20the%20French%20perspective

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Quality of Employment from the French perspective

• Task Force on the Measurement of Quality of
  Employment
• Genève 28-29/05/2009

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Introduction aims of this presentation

• Looking back on the presently retained dimensions
  of QE
• Critical review of indicators for each
  (sub)dimension
• Particular development on dimension 4a)
  Stability and security of work

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The 14 (sub)dimensions of Quality of Employment

• In reference to dimensions adopted by EC or ILO,
  are there in our list
  
  - apparently missing
  dimensions, such as  Inclusion and access to the
  Labour market  or  Overall work performance ?
  - not very clear
  dimensions, such as  Social protection  or
   Intrinsic nature of work ?
• It is important to fix clear objectives in order
  to assess the relevance of indicators

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For each (sub)dimension, remarks or propositions
of indicators

• To select relevant and easy to interpret
  indicators
• To have regular measure for many countries
• To ensure the best comparability
• To have a small number of indicators (or
  distinguish key- and context-indicators)
• To mix quantitative and qualitative indicators

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Dim. 1a) Employment safety

• Fatal and Non-fatal occupational injury rates are
  relevant
• Occupational disease contraction per 100 000
  employees and Share of employees working in
   hazardous  conditions are also interesting,
  but more difficult to define and measure
• Workplace expenditure on safety improvements as a
  share of total workplace labour costs seems too
  difficult to obtain
• Add an indicator about workers exposed to stress?

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Dim. 1b) Child labour and Forced labour

• Fetch inspiration from the resolution on Child
  labour adopted during the 18th ICLS
• Complement the Average weekly hours worked by
  children (by age and sex) with indicators on
  importance (number and rate) of Child labour
• Add Children not in school by employment status
  (by age)
• Add indicator on Forced labour?

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Dim. 1c) Fear treatment in employment

• Employed women as a share of total employment has
  to be complemented by  Gender employment rate
  gap  and Gender pay gap
• These indicators must be extended to other
  categories (immigrants, foreigners, disabled
  persons)
• Occupational segregation by sex doesnt seem
  operational (whats the objective?)

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Dim. 2a) Income from employment

• Low pay is relevant, as well as average weekly
  earnings of employees (in PPA?)
• Indicators related to minimum wage concern only
  few countries
• To add Working poors?

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Dim. 2b) Benefits from employment

• Share of employees entitled to paid annual leave
  and Average length of paid annual leave are
  relevant
• To add Share of employees entitled to sick leave?

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Dim. 3a) Working hours

• Average annual hours worked per person doesnt
  say anything. What is important is to know if
  these hours correspond to individual choices. So,
  a better indicator could be the Share of
  employees working less (resp. more) than what
  they wish
• Share of employed persons working gt 48 hours per
  week is a negative indicator of QE, but in some
  countries its a good indicator of flexibility!
• Share of employed persons working lt 30 hours per
  week involuntarily could be replaced by
  Time-related underemployment rate

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Dim. 3b) Working time arrangements

• Percentage of employed people who usually work at
  night/evening, or on week-end or bank holiday,
  should also be regarded as bad indicators in
  terms of QE, unless it corresponds to individuals
  choices.
• Add an indicator on voluntary (or negociated)
  forms of flexitime, which can be interesting for
  employees ?

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Dim. 3c) Balancing work and non-working life

• Ratio of employment rate for women with children
  under compulsory school age to the employment
  rate of women aged 20-49 is relevant but absolute
  difference may be a better indicator
• Share of women (resp. men) receiving maternity
  (resp. paternity)/family leave benefits depends
  on demographic caracteristics in the country. It
  is perhaps better to know the share of women or
  men entitled to these benefits
• Add indicators on care for dependants other than
  children?

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Dim. 4a) Digression on QE vs Flexicurity (1)

• In the Laeken framework,  flexibility and
  security  was one of the 10 dimensions of the QE
• Flexicurity is becoming in European Strategy an
  omnipresent theme which now covers the fields of
  life-long learning, balancing work and
  non-working life, work and working time
  organisation, security at work, social
  protection
• Flexicurity has, in a certain way,  replaced 
  quality in the European strategic objectives

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Dim. 4a) Digression on QE vs Flexicurity (2)

• Between the 2 approaches, there are actually
  important differences which require to specify
  what we want to measure
• The flexicurity has a more economic and dynamic
  orientation (its rather the  flexibility 
  component), the QE a more social orientation
  (driven by the  security  component)
• The choice of indicators for the former or the
  latter has to reflect that opposition

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Dim. 4a) Stability and security of work

• Percentage of employees with non-fixed term jobs
  instead of temporary jobs
• Suggestion Distribution by job tenure instead of
  Percentage of employees with job tenure of less
  than one year only
• Proposals Rate of voluntary mobilities every
  year and Share of these mobilities among the
  whole mobilities, to promote good mobility and
  security of transitions

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Dim. 4b) Social protection

• Share of employees covered by unemployment
  insurance and Public social security expenditure
  as share of GDP are relevant
• Share of economically active population
  contributing to a pension fund is more distant
  from QE

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Dim. 5a) Social dialogue

• Share of employees covered by collective wage
  bargaining could be extended to Share of
  employees covered by collective agreements
• Average number of days not worked due to strikes
  and lock-outs is not so easy to interpret a low
  value of the indicator may mean absence of social
  dialogue if many employees are not covered by
  strike law
• Proposal to add Trade union density or
  Proportion of employees with recognised worker
  representation

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Dim. 5b) Workplace relationships

• Subjective indicators like the 2 indicators
  suggested by the Task Force last year?
• Or regroup 5a) and 5b) ?

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Dim. 6) Skills development and life-long learning

• Share of employed persons in high skilled
  occupations is relevant
• Share of employees who received job training
  within the last 12 months is easier to measure if
  the inquired period is 1 month instead 12 months
  (like in LFS)
• Share of employed who have more (or less)
  education than what is normally required in their
  occupation is very difficult to measure

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Dim. 7) Intrinsic nature of work

• Subjective indicators like the indicators
  suggested by the Task Force last year?

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Conclusion
Subsidiary questions

• 2 questions asked by EMCO Indicators Group
  - Arent we building a supplementary
  conceptual framework with its own indicators,
  which will make things still more confusing for
  users?
• - Is it not necessary to distinguish several
  approaches of the QE, corresponding to different
  types of policy?
• Other question objective/subjective indicators
  (cf. discussion with CES Bureau)
  

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• THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION