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Twenty Years of Job Quality in OECD Countries: More Good News?

Author

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  • Andrew E Clark

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Michal Kozák

    (UiO - University of Oslo, OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University)

Abstract

The distribution of job quality across workers and the change in job quality over time can be reflected in various measures of job outcomes, or single-item job-satisfaction scores. This paper takes both approaches to establish the evolution of job quality over a period from the mid-1990s to the mid-2010s in 13 OECD countries, using data from the three latest ISSP Work Orientation modules. The rise in job satisfaction from 1997 to 2005 has continued through 2015, despite the 2008 Great Recession. This improvement is also found in most of the joboutcome domains, despite some evidence of harder and more stressful work. Workers reported that job security was the most-important job aspect every year, and the percentage of workers with secure jobs rose over time. There has been a small rise in the dispersion of job satisfaction, but the good news regarding better job quality over a 20-year period does not seem to be dampened by large changes in its inequality.

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  • Andrew E Clark & Michal Kozák, 2024. "Twenty Years of Job Quality in OECD Countries: More Good News?," Working Papers halshs-04788950, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-04788950
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04788950v1
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    1. Claudia Senik & Andrew E. Clark & Conchita D’Ambrosio & Anthony Lepinteur & Carsten Schröder, 2024. "Teleworking and life satisfaction during COVID-19: the importance of family structure," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 1-24, March.
    2. Andrew E. Clark & Maria Cotofan & Richard Layard, 2024. "Do wages underestimate the inequality in workers' rewards? The joint distribution of job quality and wages across occupations," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(362), pages 497-546, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job quality; Job satisfaction; ISSP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions

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