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Decent Work and the Quality of Work and Employment

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Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics

Abstract

This review examines the concept of the quality of work and employment (QWE), including both “decent work” and the narrower concept of “job quality.” The key axiom is that “quality” relates to the extent and manner in which working conditions meet people’s needs from work. The review emphasizes the multidisciplinary nature of the topic. It discusses the concept’s objective character, its relationship with well-being, and its link with productivity. Important measurement issues are considered, including cost, international comparability, the choice of how many indices, the treatment of inequality, and the problem of discipline insularity. Some theories of the antecedents of QWE imply universal trends, while others predict differentiation across countries and regions, attributable to labor market institutions and policy. The effects on well-being and health are studied in several disciplines, including a substantial research program in psychology. Summary trends in Europe and distributions of job quality are presented for context, including gender gaps. This description shows gradual improvement in the physical environment of work and in working time quality over the decade from 2005. Yet the distribution of job quality in several domains is not at all closely related to a country’s GDP. The review concludes with a discussion of job quality policy making and frames the ongoing research agenda.

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Acknowledgements

Responsible Section Editor: Uwe Jirjahn. The article has benefitted from valuable comments of Brendan Burchell, Alan Felstead, Arne Kalleberg, Kirsten Sehnbruch and Frances Stewart. There is no conflict of interest.

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  1. UCL Institute of Education, London, UK

    Francis Green

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  1. UNU-MERIT & Princeton University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Klaus F. Zimmermann

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  1. University of Trier, Trier, Germany

    Uwe Jirjahn

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Green, F. (2021). Decent Work and the Quality of Work and Employment. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_218-1

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