This report’s objective is the construction of an index of labour market well-being that is capable of measuring the well-being that individuals in a given society at a given point in time can obtain through the labour market. Besides considering simply the average return from working, workers are also typically concerned with inequality in the distribution of earnings, as well as skills acquisition that affects future returns from working and the uncertainty surrounding these future returns due to, for example, the possibilities of job loss, injury and insufficient income in retirement. The index proposed and constructed here hence attempts to incorporate each of these aspects of labour market well-being. The Centre for the Study of Living Standards has developed an Index of Economic Well-being based on trends in consumption flows, stocks of wealth, inequality, and economic security. This framework is applied here, but the focus is on the well-being of individuals as workers. The proposed Index of Labour Market Well-being (ILMW) therefore covers all persons of working age, both employed and unemployed, and includes 1) the average current return from work; 2) the aggregate accumulation of human capital, which enables future returns from work; 3) inequality in current returns from work; and 4) insecurity in the anticipation of future returns from work. Estimates of the proposed Index are developed for 16 OECD countries for the 1980-2001 period.
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Paper provided by Centre for the Study of Living Standards in its series CSLS Research Reports with number
2003-05.
Find related papers by JEL classification: O57 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General Welfare E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - General J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
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