seventh meeting on measuring quality of employment 4a – security of employment security of...

Seventh Meeting on Measuring Quality of Employment 4a – Security of employment

Security of employment and social protection 4a - Security of employment

Seventh Meeting on Measuring Quality of Employment -Geneva

Federica Pintaldi, Elisa Marzilli

September, 11th - 13th 2013


Introduction of the dimension

Security of employment essentially refers to how likely a person is to lose

his/her job.

It involves information on the degree of permanence and tenure of the work,

status in employment, and the formal or informal nature of employment.

Information on the perceived job security is an important element to

complement information available, e.g., on fixed-term contracts or persons

employed via temporary employment agencies.


Indicators

4a1 - Percentage of employees 25 years and older with fixed term contract

4a2 - Precarious employment rate (experimental)

4a3 - Job tenure at the current job or with the current employer

4a4 - Percentage of employed persons who are own-account workers

4a5 - Percentage of self-employed workers with only one client

4a6 - Informal employment rate (experimental)

4a7 - Perceived job security

4a8 - Percentage of persons employed via a temporary employment agency

4a9 - Percentage of employees without formal contracts

In black Indicators with non-substantial changes since 2011

In red new indicators


Common questions

Interpretation of indicatorsDefinitions and operationalisationsLevel and trend of indicatorsOverlap among indicators

International comparabiltyConcepts about employmentNational legislation, social protection Level of developement of country


Indicators sheets


4a1 - Percentage of employees 25 years and older with fixed term contract

In relation to:

economic situation

perceived job security

the national legislation influences the proportion of employees with fixed term contracts in a country

an additional set of indicators could be a set of social protection indicators that consider social safety nets in case of job loss and income loss

The indicator is available in the EU-LFS.Main variable in the EU-LFS are: STATPRO, TEMP, YEARBIR

Comparability: excluding apprentices? Analysis by age group

Description: Percentage of employees 25 years and older with fixed term contract

Measurement objectives: this indicator measures the employment security given by the employee contract. It informs about the share of employees who are at high risk to have to look for a new job after a limited, short time period. This situation can lead to stress, insecurity and financial risk.


4a2 - Precarious employment rate (experimental)

In relation to:

economic situation

informal employment

indicator is sensitive to changes in the business cycle, having a counter cyclical nature

jobs in precarious employment generally lack basic social or legal protections or employment benefits

The indicator is available in the EU-LFS only for employees.Main variable in the EU-LFS are: STATPRO, TEMP

Comparability: operational definition of precarious, especially for not employees

Description: information regarding the share of the employed whose contract of employment is of relatively short duration (casual workers, seasonal workers, etc.) or whose contract can be terminated on short notice (shorter than standard practice in the country).

Measurement objectives: workers' vulnerability in terms of both contract duration and job instability, for both employees and self-employed workers. An increasing trend in the indicator corresponds to a worsening of the quality of employment, as it points to an increasing number of jobs becoming unstable and/or insecure.


4a3 - Job tenure at the current job or with the current employer

In relation to:

business cycletemporary employment, and perceived job security

the proportion of workers with short job tenure may tend to fall during an economic downturn

job tenure indicators and the share of temporary workers are two complementary approaches of employment stability

interpretation for high occupation?

The indicator is available in the EU-LFSMain variable in the EU-LFS are: STARTIME, ILOSTAT, AGE

Comparability: proportion of self-employed, industry composition, employment rate of women

Description: percentage of employed persons aged 25 years and over whose number of years of tenure at the current job or with the current employer is (1) < 1 year, (2) 1 - 5 years (3) 5 - 10 years and (4) >= 10 years.

Measurement objectives: the job tenure indicator measures the length of time workers have been in their current job or with their current employer and is valuable for analysing the stability of employment relationships, and ultimately, the degree of job insecurity that workers may face.


4a4 - Percentage of employed persons who are own-account workers

In relation to:

national incomeinformal employment

in developing countries many own-account informal sector enterprises and own-account subsistence agriculture production units

to exclude subsistence agriculture activities from employment?

The indicator is available in the EU-LFSMain variable in the EU-LFS are: STAPRO

Comparability: income, sector and occupation of own-account workers

Description: own-account workers are those workers who, working on their own account or with one or more partners, working in unincorporated enterprises, hold a ‘self-employment job’ and have not engaged on a continuous basis any employees to work for them during the reference period. The partners may or may not be members of the same family or household.

Measurement objectives: own-account workers may have inadequate employment conditions (for example, inadequate income, excessive hours), jobs of short duration, and therefore higher degree of economic risk than other employed persons. Thus, high levels of the indicator may point to inadequate employment conditions.


4a5 - Percentage of self-employed workers with only one client

In relation to:

temporary employeesinformal employment

social protection indicators which indicate the social safety net available to such self-employed workers

self-employed workers only without employees?

The indicator is not available in the EU-LFSMain variable in the EU-LFS are: STAPRO (for self-employed workers)

Comparability: legal framework, percentage of own-account workers

Description: Percentage of self-employed workers with only one client in the reference period of survey on total number of self-employed workers. In ICSE-93 self-employment jobs are those jobs where the remuneration is directly dependent upon the profits derived from the goods and services produced . The EWCS considers economic independence by asking about the degree of dependency on only one client (a ‘genuine business’ is assumed to seek income from different sources).

Measurement objectives: the ongoing labour market deregulation process makes the traditional distinction between employees and self-employed more complex. The group of self-employed workers has a range of different characteristics in terms of employment security, that is low if the gain depends on a single customer.


4a6 - Informal employment rate (experimental)

Description: IER is defined as the percentage of persons in total employment who are in informal employment. For operational reasons the concept is measured as the number of persons employed (and not the number of jobs) in informal employment in their main job.

Measurement objectives: To identify the segments of employment most exposed to economic risk, lacking an adequate safety net in case of layoff or poor enterprise performance, with the lowest chance (either de jure or de facto) to count on the legal/institutional frame to protect them.

In relation to:

level of development

national legislation

underground economy

how to make the definitions relevant to developed countries?

all contributing family workers?

it is expected it increases with recessions

The indicator cannot be calculated with the EU-LFS variables

Comparability: structure of economy, operational definition


4a7 - Perceived job securityDescription: Percentage of employed persons who, in the following 6 months, consider it

is likely they will lose their job and it is not at all or little likely that they find another similar job. This approach considers not only perceived job security (threat of job loss) but also aspects of employability (to find similar job). Do you agree?

Measurement objectives: to capture the subjective aspects of wellbeing at work. The perceived job security workers may not be closely related to the formal stability of a job.

In relation to:

unemployment rate

unemployment benefits

job satisfaction

The feeling of insecurity is more prevalent in countries where unemployment is higher, in particular the long-term unemployment rate, and/or where public expenditures related to labour market policies is lower. On the other hand, perceived job security is linked to flexicurity policies.

The indicator is not available in the EU-LFSThe two questions of Eurofound questionnaire (q77a, q77f)

Comparability: the subjective questions are high sensible to cultural differences among countries


4a8 - Percentage of persons employed via a temporary employment agency

In relation to:

non standard employment

informal employment

Information about each country’s framework for regulating temporary employment agencies, as enterprises, could be provided by each country.

change on total employees?

The indicator is available in the EU-LFS Main variable in the EU-LFS is: TEMPAGY (1=”Yes”)

Description: Percentage of persons employed via a temporary employment agency on total number of employed persons.

Measurement objectives: employees with an employment contract with a temporary employment agency generally are exposed to a higher risk of losing their job and often - depending on national regulations - have less favorable working conditions than other employees doing similar work.


4a9 - Percentage of employees without formal contracts

In relation to:

non standard employment

informal employment

The national legislation may influence the proportion of employees without formal contracts in a country.

Are employees without formal contracts a subgroup of informal workers, or is it possible to be in formal employment while not having a formal contract?

Description: Percentage of employees without formal contracts or pay slip or pay stub on total number of employees.

Measurement objectives: indicator measures the employment security of employees without a formal employment contract or those without a pay slip/pay stub. Employees without formal contracts or without a pay slip/pay stub can be exposed to higher risks of losing their job and they may not have social protection, suggesting a high vulnerability.

The indicator is not available in the EU-LFS

Comparability: structure of economy, national legislation, recluctant to declare


Issues for discussion

4a1 - Percentage of employees 25 years and older with fixed term contract Yes/Change/No

4a2 - Precarious employment rate (experimental) Yes/Change/No

4a3 - Job tenure at the current job or with the current employer Yes/Change/No

4a4 - Percentage of employed persons who are own-account workers Yes/Change/No

4a5 - Percentage of self-employed workers with only one client Yes/Change/No

4a6 - Informal employment rate (experimental) Yes/Change/No

4a7 - Perceived job security Yes/Change/No4a8 - Percentage of persons employed via a temporary employment agency Yes/Change/No

4a9 - Percentage of employees without formal contracts Yes/Change/No

Keep all indicators?

Change some definitions?

Other indicators?


Thank you for your attention!

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