Abstract
Based on an analysis of the New Zealand data in the Work Orientation module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) across three rounds (1997, 2005 and 2015), this paper examines how workers in New Zealand perceive their job quality. These surveys imply that New Zealanders have relatively good jobs, as shown in healthy levels of job quality and job satisfaction. They rate highly the quality of their collegial relationships at work and typically perceive the intrinsic quality of their job as better than the extrinsic quality. A key issue in relation to the latter is that they generally do not rate their advancement opportunities as high. While men, full-timers and graduates have some advantages over women, part-timers and non-graduates in extrinsic job quality, the intrinsic quality of work is more evenly experienced. In terms of intrinsic issues, the rising level of stress from 2005 to 2015 poses a concern and there is no evidence that graduates enjoy any kind of premium in the intrinsic quality of work apart from a lower level of hard physical effort.
Highlights
Jobs vary significantly in their quality across the world, including in the more developed economies
This paper aims to examine the perceptions of New Zealand employees of their job quality over the last 20 or so years
There is a cluster of factors that score close to 2 out of 5 and that relate to the intrinsic quality of work: being able to help others, being able to work independently, relationships with management, having an interesting job, and doing something that is useful to society
Summary
Jobs vary significantly in their quality across the world, including in the more developed economies. Holtgrewe et al (2015), writing in Europe, observe that “jobs with low wages, low autonomy, physical and psychological strains, limited perspectives and insecure employment do not persist, but are newly created” (p.1). Against this backdrop, this paper aims to examine the perceptions of New Zealand employees of their job quality over the last 20 or so years. Our goal in this context is to use three rounds of the work orientation module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), conducted in 1997, 2005 and 2015, to provide a systematic analysis of indicators of job quality in New Zealand. The results are important for informing the debate about job quality in New Zealand
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