Faced with the quality deficit of many jobs in France, it seems necessary to have a synthetic, multidimensional index, allowing to measure, compare, follow the quality of jobs. This index will be published on a site dedicated to the vocation of the Employment Quality Observatory.
The problem
The quality of employment is an essential condition for the well-being of employees and the competitiveness of companies. It is made up of six main dimensions: remuneration ; The conditions of employment ; working conditions ; Schedules and family life conciliation Professional life ; Access to training and career prospects ; the representation and participation of employees in decisions.
However, existing research works have shown that France suffered in this area of a deficit compared to its European partners, in particular due to degraded working conditions and access to training and career prospects that remain too limited (Erhel et al, 2023). Certain professions, however essential such as drivers, home aid or cleaning agents are marked by a particularly low quality of employment (DON and AL, 2023). Improving the quality of employment for all, and in particular for the professions where it is the weakest, therefore constitutes a social priority as an economic.
The proposal:
Create a quality of employment index that allows you to make a public diagnosis and measure progress or declines.
How does it work
Each of the six dimensions of the quality of the employment will be measured from a limited number of indicators, on the basis of which a global index will be calculated, and sub-index by dimension, in order to refine the diagnosis and understand the developments of the global index.
The index can be calculated at different levels: national, regional or local, sectoral, business, business, on the basis of administrative data or data for public statistics, or ad hoc surveys carried out for example in a territory or in a company. The results will be published on a dedicated site, with the vocation of an observatory of the quality of employment in France.
On what research work is the proposal founded
The dimensions of the quality of employment have been defined and analyzed in European work, taken up in France in the context of work for the mission for the recognition of workers on the second line (Amosse et al, 2021) and as part of a work of France Strategy on the quality of employment by trades (Data et al, 2023).
The method of calculating a synthetic index has been defined and discussed in the international literature on the quality of employment (PIASNA, 2023 ; Munoz de Bustillo et al, 2011 ; Green et al, 2013). Tools for measuring the quality of employment for the general public have been put online in Germany (Dgb GUTE ARBEIT INDEX) in in Great Britain (How good is my job)
How to implement
A first step would be to set up a mission including researchers specializing in the field and the main statistical services concerned (INSEE,, Dares,, Cnam…) In order to identify the sources usable to build the index at different levels (including the business level), based on existing data.
The index could then be calculated and published by the statistical services as part of an Employment Quality Observatory, with regular monitoring.
In addition, the observatory would offer an online tool to measure the quality of a job, from a brief questionnaire. This tool would be made available to the general public, social partners, services HR Companies, in order to help them locate, compare, follow changes in the quality of jobs at the finest level.