Gender, Educational Attainment, and Job Quality in Germany, Sweden, and the UK: Evidence from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey

Yi-Jung Wu,Jingying He,Xiaojie Xu

doi:10.3390/su132313139

Yi-Jung Wu, Jingying He + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313139

Copy DOI

Abstract

This research aims to explore the relationships between gender, educational attainment, and job quality, including work autonomy, work intensity, and job satisfaction across Germany, Sweden, and the UK. The European Working Conditions Survey 2015 was used to achieve this research objective. Descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis were used to determine how educational level plays an important role in creating gender differences in job quality across three countries. The findings show that receiving postsecondary education can improve work autonomy for both German and Swedish women. However, postsecondary education has different impacts on gender gaps in job quality in these countries. While postsecondary education lowers the gender gap in work autonomy and intensity in Sweden, postsecondary education increases the gender gap in work autonomy and intensity in Germany. Postsecondary education does not significantly decrease gender differences in job satisfaction in Germany or Sweden or any of our job quality measures in the UK. These findings challenge the commonly held belief that higher education has a positive effect on job quality. In fact, gender norms and national institutional factors may also play important roles in this relationship.

Highlights

Following the literature on job quality and occupational structure, we focus on work intensity, work autonomy, and job satisfaction in this paper
If a family wants to outsource its care, they can choose from informal childcare arrangements or the use of private daycare centers [1]. Given those differences in the welfare policies across three country regimes, this study explores the impact of the gender gap in job quality and whether different levels of education moderate this relationship
As the first outcome of job autonomy, we focused on the gender differences in work autonomy by educational groups across the contexts of Sweden, Germany, and the United Kingdom (UK)

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Women constitute half of the labor force in most European countries, yet differences in compensation still exist between women and men [1]. Individuals often pay more attention to job quality rather to compensation alone. Job quality differs between genders, which is, often ignored in extant research. This study on job quality between women and men is driven by the objective of sustainable and equitable development in the United Nations Conference on Environment & Development Agenda. Available online: https://www.oecd.org/education/school/CBR_OECD_SRR_SEFINAL.pdf (accessed on 1 September 2021). T.; Van de Werfhorst, H.G. Signals and closure by degrees: The education effect across 15 European countries.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion