Job Quality in the Crisis – An Update of the Job Quality Index (JQI)

Abstract

This paper is an update of the synthetic job quality index (JQI) for the EU27 countries which has been created in 2008 (see ETUI Working paper 2008.03 and 2008.07) in an attempt to shed light on the question of how European countries compare with each other and how they are developing over time in terms of job quality. The results point out that the crisis seems to have affected different dimensions of job quality in different ways. Overall, there is a decline in measured job quality and job quality levels in Europe remain highly diverse. There is a clear increase in the use of part-time and fixed-term contracts and/or in the extent to which workers reported that they were working in such jobs involuntarily. Moreover, the numbers of workers who are afraid to lose their job have increased markedly which are clear signs of the declining bargaining power of labour brought on by the crisis.