Results of a Quality of Work Life Index in Spain. A Comparison of Survey Results and Aggregate Social Indicators

Abstract

The European Union launched the Lisbon Strategy in 2000 with the aim of establishing itself as the world’s most powerful economy. The importance of job quality has returned to the top of the European employment and social policy agenda. As targets are set, significant progress has been made in the creation of indicators. In this study, we compute a composite index for quality of work life using the dimensional structure provided by the European Commission, and present our results for regions, sectors, professional categories and sizes of firm in Spain in the period 2001–2004. We find that better results are found in the more developed regions, in service sectors, in bigger firms and in jobs with more responsibility. Finally, we compare the results of the index with workers’ subjective perceptions of job satisfaction, measured by a quality of work life survey. The test results reveal a strong relationship between the two measurements.

Appendix 1. Data, Indicators, and Measurement of Spanish Quality of Work

In the following pages we display the 10 dimensions and related concepts, the indicators proposed by the EC, and the indicators proposed for Spain.

1.1 DIMENSION: 1. Intrinsic Job Quality

• CONCEPT (C): job satisfaction among workers, taking account of job characteristics, contract type, hours worked and the level of qualification relative to job requirements

• INDICATORS-EC (IEC): satisfaction with type of work in present job; skills needed for current job provided by formal training or education; the possession of skills or qualifications to do a more demanding job than the current one (overqualified)

• INDICATORS-SPAIN (IS): workers degree of satisfaction (Source [S]: Quality of Work Life Survey [ECVT]. Availability [Av]: region, sector, firm size and professional rate, 2001–2004); total labour cost (S: Labour Status Survey, Labour Ministry. Av: region and sector. 2001–2004); average earning per worker per month (S: Salary Structure Survey, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2002).

• C: proportion of workers advancing to higher paid employment over time

• IEC: current net monthly wage

• IS: interannual increase in total labour cost (S: Labour Status Survey, Labour Ministry; Av: region and sector. 2001–2004)

• C: low wage earners, working poor, and the distribution of income

• IEC: proportion of employees earning less than 60% of median income; is the household able to make ends meet? income distribution as measured by the S80/S20 income quantile ratio

• IS: proportion of households with earnings (S: Continuous Survey of Family Budgets, Av: region 2001–2004); median of households’ net earnings (S: ECVT. Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004)

1.2 DIMENSION: 2. Skills, Life-Long Learning and Career Development

• C: proportion of workers with medium and high levels of education

• IEC: persons in employment with medium and high educational attainment level (ISCED) as a percentage of the employed population

• IS: workers classified by education: average number of years in education (S: Bancaja: “El Capital Humano en España”, Av: region and sector 2002); workers classified by education: proportion of active workers with higher education (S: Bancaja: “El Capital Humano en España”, Av: region and sector 2002); active population classified by educational level: average number of years in education (S: Active Population Survey EPA, Av: region 2001–2004); workers classified by education: proportion of active workers with higher education (S: EPA, Av: region 2001–2004); proportion of workers with higher education (S: ECVT; Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004)

• C: proportion of workers undertaking training or other forms of life-long learning

• IEC: participation rate in education and training as defined by the percentage of the population participating in education and training by sex, age groups (25–34, 35–44 and 45–64 years old) and working status (employed, unemployed, inactive); percentage of the population aged 25–64 participating in education and training, by sex; percentage of workforce participating in job-related training, by sex (some doubts about the notion of workforce)

• IS: occupational training course: finished courses per 10,000 workers (S: Labor Ministry Yearbook MTAS, Av: region and sector 2001–2003); occupational training course: students per 100 workers (S: Labour Ministry Yearbook MTAS, Av: region and sector 2001–2003); proportion of workers who have finished training courses (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers who finished useful training courses (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); training days financed by the firm (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004)

• C: proportion of workers with basic or higher levels of digital literacy

• IEC: currently not entirely available

• IS: currently not entirely available

1.3 DIMENSION: 3. Gender Equality

• C: gender pay gap, appropriately adjusted for such factors as sector, occupation and age

• IEC: ratio of women’s hourly earnings index to men’s for paid employees at work 15+hours by job content and education

• IS: average earning ratio (women/men) (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); salary earnings: gender differences (S: Salary Structure Survey, Av: region, sector and professional rate 2002)

• C: gender segregation—extent to which women and men are over or under-represented in different professions and sectors

• IEC: the average national proportion of employment for women and men applied to employment in each sector/occupation. The differences are added and related to total employment to obtain a gender imbalance figure

• IS: proportion of women workers, classified by sector and firm size (S: Labour Status Survey. MTAS, Av: sector and firm size 2001–2004); activity rate: gender differences (S: EPA, Av: region 2001–2004); unemployment rate: gender differences (S: EPA, Av: region 2001–2004)

• C: proportion of women and men with different levels of responsibility within professions and sectors, taking account of factors such as age and education

• IEC: employment of women and men, by level of responsibility within firms and by sector (adjustment for age and education); job status (supervisory, intermediate, non-supervisory) by occupation or industry.

• IS: proportion of women working as member of the board of a firm in comparison with the proportion of men on the board (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004)

1.4 DIMENSION: 4. Health and Safety at Work

• C: composite indicators of accidents at work—fatal and serious—including costs; total and mean number of days lost due to accidents at work, by sex; occupational diseases, by sex; rates of occupational disease, including new risks e.g. repetitive strain injury

• IEC: the incidence rate, defined as the number of accidents at work per 100,000 persons in employment, by sex, calculated as: [number of accidents (fatal or non-fatal)/number of employed persons in the studied population] × 100,000; health problems related to making repetitive movements; working at very high speed and its effects on health

• IS: accidents at different work rates (S: Labour Accidents at Work. MTAS, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004)

• C: stress levels and other difficulties concerning working relationships

• IEC: working to tight deadlines and its effects on health

• IS: proportion of workers who consider that they have to do physical work (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers who consider that their work is stressful (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers who consider that their work is dangerous (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers who consider that their work is developed in a satisfactory environment (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers who consider that their work is satisfactory in hygienic terms (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers who are satisfied with the safety measures (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004)

1.5 DIMENSION: 5. Flexibility and Security

• C: the effective coverage of social protection systems—in terms of breadth of eligibility and level of support—for those in work, or seeking work

• IEC: coverage of the employed by social insurance, as measured by the total net social/social insurance receipts in the year prior to the interview (as part of income)

• IS: coverage of the employed by social insurance (S: MTAS e INEM, Av: region 2001–2004); beneficiaries of assistance insurance (S: MTAS and INEM, Av: Region. 2001–2004); benefits for retired people (S: MTAS e INEM Av: region2001–2004]; average amount of benefits (S: MTAS and INEM, Av: Region. 2001–2004)

• C: proportion of workers with flexible working arrangements—as seen by employers and workers

• IEC: satisfaction with working time in present job; type of employment contract, by categories: permanent, fixed-term or short-term, casual work with no contract, some other working arrangement; full-time/part-time.

• IS: salary differences between permanent and temporary contracts (S: Salary Structure Survey. Av: region 2002); proportion of workers with permanent contracts (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers with permanent contracts and undesired part time jobs (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004)

• C: job losses—proportion of workers losing their job through redundancies; proportion of those finding alternative employment in a given period

• IEC: reason for leaving a previous job; main reason for leaving last job or business.

• IS: unemployment rate (S: EPA, Av: region 2001–2004)

• C: proportion of workers changing the geographical location of their work

• IEC: data available through Eurostat but in need of analysis and presentation

• IS: not available

1.6 DIMENSION: 6. Inclusion and Access to the Labour Market

• C: Effective transition of young people to active life

• IEC: Activity rate 15–24 as a proportion of the population of 15–24; youth unemployment ratio: unemployed aged 15–24 as a percentage of the population aged 15–24

• IS: unemployment rate of young people (15–25) (S: EPA, Av: region 2001–2004), employment rate of young people (15–25) (S: EPA, Av: region 2001–2004)

• C: employment and long-term unemployment rates by age, educational level, region

• IEC: employment rate by main age group (15–24, 25–54, 55–64, 15–64) and educational attainment levels (ISCED: high, medium and low); total long-term unemployment rate

• IS: proportion of long-term unemployed workers (S: EPA, Av: region 2001–2004)

• C: labour market bottlenecks and mobility between sectors and occupations

• IEC: none currently available; employed in current and previous job; sector of current and previous job

• IS: vacancies/unemployed workers. (S: INEM, Av: region and professional rate 2001–2004)

1.7 DIMENSION: 7. Work Organisation and Work-Life Balance

• C: proportion of workers with flexible working arrangements

• IEC: proportion of employees with flexible working arrangements (flexible hours, annualised hours contract, on-call work) out of total employees, by sex; number of employees working involuntary part-time as a percentage of total number of employees

• IS: proportion of workers with part time contracts (S: EPA, Av: region 2001–2004); proportion of workers with temporary contracts, per region (S: EPA, Av: region 2001–2004); proportion of workers with temporary contracts, per sector (S: EPA, Av: sector 2001–2004); proportion of workers with part-time jobs because they have not found a permanent job (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers with part-time jobs because they are not willing to take on a permanent job (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004)

• C: opportunities for maternity and paternity leave, and take-up rates; scale of child-care facilities for pre-school and primary school age groups

• IEC: employed men and women on parental leave (paid and unpaid) as a proportion of all employed parents; allocation of parental leave between employed men and women as a proportion of all parental leave; children cared for (other than by the family) as a proportion of all children in the same age group. Broken down by before the noncompulsory preschool system, in noncompulsory or equivalent preschool system and compulsory primary education

• IS: subsidy for infant care per 1,000 inhabitants (S: Labour Ministry Yearbook MTAS, Av: region 2001–2004); infant services per 100,000 inhabitants (S: Labour Ministry Yearbook MTAS, Av: region 2001–2004); primary health care per 1,000 inhabitants (S: Labour Ministry Yearbook MTAS, Av: region 2001–2004); proportion of workers whose firms offer subsidies for nurseries (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers whose firms offer subsidies for housing (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers whose firms offer subsidies for life long learning (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers whose firms offer canteen services (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004); proportion of workers whose firms offer pension plans (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004), Proportion of workers whose firms offer other services (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004)

1.8 DIMENSION: 8. Social Dialogue and Worker Involvement

• C: coverage of collective agreements

• IEC: none currently available

• IS: proportion of workers with collective agreements (S: Labour Ministry Yearbook MTAS and EPA Av: region, sector and professional rate 2001–2003); proportion of workers employed in firms without any structure for conducting collective negotiations (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate. 2001–2004); ratio of workers with a firm-level of collective agreement (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004)

• C: proportion of workers with a financial interest/participation in the firms where they are employed

• IEC: percentage of business units with more than 200 employees in each country using financial participation schemes

• IS: proportion of workers whose salary partly depends on the firm’s profits (S: ECVT, Av: region, sector, firm size and professional rate 2001–2004)

• C: working days lost in industrial disputes

• IEC: no. of working days lost (1,000)

• IS: ratio of lost days per strikes over working days (S: Labour Ministry Yearbook MTAS, Av: region and sector, 2001–2003)

1.9 DIMENSION: 9. Diversity and Non-Discrimination

• C: employment rates and pay gaps of older workers compared with average

• IEC: total net monthly wages

• IS: activity rate for workers older than 55 (S: EPA, Av: region. 2001–2004); unemployment rate of older workers (older than 55) (S: EPA, Av: Region. 2001–2004); average earnings per worker (S: Salary Structure Survey, Av: region and sector, 2002)

• C: employment rates and pay gaps of persons with disabilities, and persons from ethnic minorities—compared with average

• IEC: none currently available but some employment data is available concerning non-nationals

• IS: earnings differentials by nationality (S: Salary Structure Survey, Av: sector and professional rate, 2002); ratio of social security systems enrolled in by workers over total potential workers (S: Seguridad Social e INE [Padrón], Av: region, 2001–2004); proportion of workers enrolled in the social security system (S: Seguridad Social, Av: region 2001–2004); foreigners: ratio of foreigners working in the cleaning regime (S: Seguridad Social, Av: region 2001–2004)

• C: information on the existence of labour market complaints procedures, and of successful outcomes

• IEC: none currently available

• IS: not available

1.10 DIMENSION: 10. Overall Work Performance

• C: average hourly productivity per worker

• IEC: average productivity per hour worked, calculated as the GDP divided by the total number of hours worked during the year

• IS: added value per worked hour (measured in constant euros) (S: MTAS e INE, Av: region and sector 2001–2004)

• C: average annual output per worker

• IEC: annual labour productivity, calculated as GDP per person employed; GDP per head of population in purchasing power parities

• IS: value added per worker (measured in constant euros) (S: MTAS and INE, Av: region and sector 2001–2004)

• C: average annual living standards per head of population – taking account of the rate of employment and the dependency ratio

• IEC: economic dependency ratio, calculated as aged 15+unemployed people as a percentage of total employment

• IS: value added per capita (S: INE, Av: region and sector, 2001–2004); economic dependence ratio (nonworkers over 15/total employment) (S: INE and EPA, Av: region 2001–2004)