Job quality and the economics of New Labour: a critical appraisal using subjective survey data

Abstract

This paper assesses the record on job quality during the early term of office of the New Labour government by interpreting, from a political economy perspective, changes in a variety of subjective measures of job quality taken from several different data sources. We find some improvements in job quality over the period 1998-2004; however we argue that these improvements have arisen not because of New Labour's policies towards the workplace but because of low and falling rates of unemployment. Despite recent improvements, a large number of workers in Britain remain in low quality jobs and, without a radical change of policy direction, sustained and substantial progress in the quality of work will remain elusive.

Determinants of job quality — Evidence for European country groups

“…This indicator is based Acta Oeconomica 65 (2015) on a very strict concept of job quality, strongly associated with the literature on working conditions. Among the approaches in which the weight of the subjective dimensions is high, Brown et al (2007) evaluate job quality in Britain by considering subjective measures for the following dimensions: job security, effort, stress, autonomy, climate of employment relations, satisfaction with pay, satisfaction with sense of achievement, and satisfaction with influence. Handel (2005) uses data from the General Social Survey to assess the perceived job quality, and considers how workers evaluate pay, security, career opportunities, autonomy, intrinsic rewards, stress, effort, intensity, and interpersonal relations.…”

Unacceptable forms of work: A multidimensional model

“…Modern analyses tend to reflect on the nature of good/bad jobs from an inter-disciplinary perspective. As a result, the literature has evolved to offer richer models of objectionable and desirable jobs and to embody a multidimensional ethos: "[j]obs are made up of bundles of rewards, and the multidimensionality of job quality is reflected in definitions that recognize the diverse aspects of what constitutes a 'good' job" (Kalleberg 2011, p 5 More recent academic literature, however, has also been directed towards identifying dimensions of job quality beyond the field's traditional preoccupations (Brown et al 2007), such as skills development, job content, worker autonomy, the rhythm of work, and work intensification (e.g. Green 2006Green , 2008Gallie et al 2004;Holman 2013).…”

“…Green 2006Green , 2008Gallie et al 2004;Holman 2013). The recent literature also increasingly captures subjective components of jobs through its attentiveness to workers' choices, values, and constraints (see Cooke et al 2013), in particular job satisfaction, employee work preferences and perceived fulfillment (Clark 2005;Tsitsianis and Green 2006;Brown et al 2007;Bustillo et al 2009). The broadest typologies therefore capture job quality in relation to individuals' life stages, values, and opportunities.…”

Plant closures, precariousness and policy responses: Revisiting MG Rover 10 years on

“…In reality, it could be argued that the degree of precariousness inherent in standard and non-standard employment alike has increased. While the UK experienced a degree of legislation entailing a modest increase in the number of statutory entitlements during the period of the recent Labour government (Waring, De Ruyter, and Burgess 2006), UK government policy has maintained an emphasis on promoting the flexible labour market as a source of competitive advantage (Brown et al 2007). Drawing on Table 2, elements associated with growing precariousness of employment, and hence growing labour insecurity, can be suggested, as depicted in Table 3. A criticism of Standing's framework is its complexity (Heery and Salmon 2000, 12).…”