ILPC 2027

Within neo-Marxist as well as liberal theories, workers scope for initiative in carrying out the job, the variety of work and the opportunities of  learning are regarded as central features of work quality (e.g. Braverman 1974; Gallie 2007). Previous research has demonstrated that the Scandinavian countries are characterized by a high degree of job quality and job autonomy compared to both other coordinated market economies, like Germany, and liberal regimes, like the UK (Dobbin and Boychuk 1999; Gallie 2007). The Scandinavian countries are said to have exceptionally high levels of individual task discretion, job variety and opportunities for self-development on the job (Gallie 2007: 99). The UK, on the other hand, have fewer jobs which offer “discretionary learning” and more jobs which are described as “simple” or “Taylorist” (Holm et al., 2010). These findings are, however, nuanced by studies of specific occupations that are less protected by collective agreements or not embedded in the national system of vocational education and training (see Lloyd & Payne 2013). Within the fitness industry (see Lloyd and Payne 2013) and hotel cleaning (Vanselow et al., 2010), the differences between Scandinavia and the UK are small or non-existent.   

Rather less attention has been paid to the relationship between the level of formal education, cognitive skills and job quality in different national contexts. This paper presents a comparative study of job quality among people with no education above upper secondary school in two Scandinavian countries; Norway and Sweden, and two liberal regimes; the UK and Ireland. In addition to analyzing job quality among people with no higher education, we also include information on numeracy and literacy skills.

The analyses will be based on cross-section survey data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), gathered in 2011/2012. Data consists of a representative sample of the adult population (16-65) in Norway, Sweden, the UK (England and Northern Ireland) and Ireland, with around 5000 participants in each country. Measures of job quality will be operationalized through a factor analysis based on indexes pertaining to I) self-development in terms of learning opportunities on the job and II) the extent to which you can decide the sequence of tasks, how to do the work, speed of work and whether you can control your own work hours. Cognitive skills are measured as numeracy and literacy scores. The cross country comparisons will be conducted using linear regression.

The paper is in the making. Halldén et al. (2012) have investigated female part time work and job autonomy in Sweden and Britain. They find that female part-timers experience a relative disadvantage in Sweden, but less than in Britain. Similar findings can be expected regarding differences between educational groups. Previous research on the effects of cognitive skills in OECD-countries shows that the impact of cognitive skills is higher in liberal regimes than in systems like the Scandinavian countries (Hanushek et al. 2015).  The relative disadvantage of educational level and the possible advantage of cognitive skills may function differently within different systems.  

Literature

Braverman, H (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital. The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century. Montly Review Press, New York.

Dobbin, F and Boychuk, T (1999) National Employment Systems and Job Autonomy: Why Autonomy is High in the Nordic Countries and Low in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Organization Studies 20:257-291.

Gallie, D (2007). The Quality of Working Life: Is Scandinavia Different? European Sociological Review, Vol. 19 No. 1, 61-79

Halldén, K, Gallie, D and Zhou, Y (2012) The skills and autonomy of female part-time work in Britain and Sweden. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 30, 187-201

Hanushek, E A, Schwerdt, G,  Wiederhold, S & Woessmann, L (2015b) Returns to Skills around the World: Evidence from PIAAC.  NBER Working Papers number 19762.

Lloyd, C and Payne, J (2013) Changing job roles in the Norwegian and UK fitness industry – in search of national institutional effects, Work, Employment and Society, 27, 1, 3-20.

Vanselow A, Warhurst C, Bernhardt A and Dresser L (2010) Working at the wage floor: hotel room attendants and labor market institutions in Europe and the US. In: Gautié J and Schmitt J(eds) Low-wage Work in the Wealthy World. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 269–318.