Conference Agenda

Ongoing transformations in the world of work, spurred by overlapping crises such as digitalization, decarbonization, socio-demographic change, and evolving forms of precariousness, demand a critical rethinking of job quality frameworks, so that they remain relevant in shaping labour market institutions capable of addressing new conditions and challenges. Traditional job quality frameworks have provided robust tools for assessing decent work and employment conditions, but have remained static in the face of unprecedented changes in work organization, technological advances and global challenges. This paper seeks to address this gap by broadening the scope of current academic and policy debates on measuring job quality to ensure their relevance in informing labour reforms and the development of effective labour institutions in a changing global context.

The main aim is to enhance understanding of how transformative forces and intersecting crises affect job quality. Among the transformative forces addressed are technological transformations, in particular AI and platform work, the impact of the green transition, precariousness and its intersections with job quality, and multiple jobholding and its quality trade-offs. Drawing on existing job quality frameworks, their recent extensions and the literature on multidimensional poverty, the paper proposes new conceptual and theoretical tools for effective measurement and analysis of job quality and decent work. By critically engaging with current theoretical approaches, we challenge and expand them in light of new empirical evidence, offering insights into the evolution of job quality and the meaning of “good work” in contemporary societies. The empirical and conceptual evidence that forms the basis of this novel and extended theoretical framework is drawn from an ongoing multidisciplinary and collaborative research project on “Job quality in a turbulent era”.

The paper emphasises that transformations in the world of work not only alter traditional job quality dimensions but also demand new methodologies to measure and analyse them. Our results serve to equip policymakers and practitioners with innovative conceptual tools to formulate effective responses to these transformations. We argue for frameworks that can address different forms of employment, take account of individual and institutional contexts, and integrate broader societal objectives. The findings highlight the need for policies that address systemic inequalities and strengthen workers’ bargaining power to ensure access to good quality jobs. It also highlights the need for institutional innovations to regulate emerging labour markets and support workers in turbulent times, providing solidarity to bridge divides and promote inclusion in fragmented employment.

In response to the European Commission's initiative on adequate minimum wages, Eurofound conducted a pilot project to establish a database of minimum wage rates in collective agreements applicable to low-paid sectors. Building on this work, the subsequent project ‘Collective Bargaining Beyond Pay’ looks beyond the pay set within collective agreements and analyse the content of collective agreements for low-paid workers. This paper builds on the outcomes of the Collective Bargaining Beyond Pay project and further develops what other aspects of working conditions – beyond pay – are regulated in collective agreements across Europe. Based on the comprehensive content analysis of 98 collective agreements from three low-wage sectors (Manufacture of food, leather and tanning; Retail; Residential and social care) in 12 EU Member States, over 14,000 clauses were coded, analysed and grouped into key topics. To understand the development of key topics over time, the paper compares two versions of each collective agreement. The analysis of results focuses on job quality of workers in low-paid sectors and looks into seven dimensions of job quality (Eurofound 2021). Preliminary findings indicate that collective agreements improve job quality of workers in low-paid sectors beyond their pay: in addition to securing higher earnings through additional bonuses and allowances, these agreements also provide non-monetary benefits and opportunities for career advancement, including upskilling and reskilling initiatives. This paper contributes to our understanding of the role of collective agreements in promoting job quality and informs policy initiatives aimed at improving working conditions for low-paid workers in Europe.

The Netherlands is known for its high share of employees in fixed-term contracts (FTCs). This is partly explained by the highly dualized nature of the Dutch labour market: permanent contracts are strictly protected while employers face few restrictions when using FTCs. However, trade unions and employers are allowed to deviate from national legislation in collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) regarding the use of these contracts: they can decide on a maximum amount of consecutive FTCs, and on the maximum duration of a spell of consecutive FTCs. The aim of this study is to explore how CBAs and particular agreements in CBAs about the use of FTCs by employers affect careers of employees with an FTC.

We use a unique dataset on Dutch CBAs between 2009 and 2019 which was linked to Dutch register data. This allowed us to (1) identify employees that were covered by a CBA and which ones were not; and (2) which agreements were made in these CBAs about the use of FTCs. We included employees who entered the labour market between July 2015 and December 2015. We used hidden Markov models to (1) identify different states of employment quality based on individuals contract type and income; (2) analyze how individuals move between these states; and (3) study how CBAs affect these movements.

We identified eight states of employment quality, three of which were characterized by having an FTC (one with low wages, one with medium wages, and one with high wages). We also identified two states which were characterized by having a permanent contract (one with low wages and one with high wages). Individuals who were in the FTC state with low or medium wages were more likely to transition to the permanent state with low wages, while individuals who were in the FTC state with high wages were more likely to transition to the permanent state with high wages. Interestingly, being covered by a CBA increased the likelihood of transitioning to a permanent contract for those in the low and middle income states, while it decreased the likelihood of such a transition for those in the high income state. In addition, individuals covered by a CBA that deviated from national legislation on the use of FTCs were much less likely to transition to a permanent contract than individuals covered by a CBA that followed national legislation in all income groups.

Documents on the history of labour market institutions, such as those kept in the ILO Archive, are used by the ILO itself to make messages around its anniversaries (such as the ILO Centenary, in 2019) more precise and more attractive. They are also the normal source for academic research on historical topics.

Yet historical documents can also play another role, more closely related to the history of labour market institutions in specific countries and the ILO´s work in those countries. By contrasting the past with the current situation, historical research can illustrate surprising continuities in some fields and radical change in others. This, in turn, can be used to generate attractive messages to better appreciate the sequence of institutional strengthening in many cases, but also to highlight persisting challenges in others.

In this sense, data such as the number of labour inspectors forty years ago, the Labour Ministry´s share in the national budget, the arguments used in favour or against the ratification of certain ILO Conventions are worth tracking down and can be used in presentations, short articles and training activities.

In this paper, these general messages will be demonstrated with documents from the ILO Archive from Chile, Paraguay and other Latin American countries.