Trends in job quality in Europe

With Francis Green

Eurofound report published by the publications office of the European Union, Luxembourg.

This study measures job quality in the 27 countries of the European Union, as well as the seven additional countries in Europe that participated in the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS). Four indices were constructed for the study: earnings, prospects, intrinsic job quality and working time quality. The four indices cannot be reduced into a single index of job quality because associations between them are weak, and none can increase over time nor move in similar directions. They are, however, theoretically and conceptually coherent.

The intention was to fi nd an objective means of assessing the principle established in a number of EU directives that work should adapt to the workers. The indices constructed for this study do not rely on subjective measurement such as preferences and attitudes, but are built on the self-reported features of jobs that are associated with workers’ well-being.

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