DEMANDING WORK DEMANDING WORK THE PARADOX OF JOB QUALITY IN THE AFFLUENT ECONOMY Francis Green PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Market Place, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY All Rights Reserved Second printing, and first paperback printing, 2007 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-691-13441-3 The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows Green, Francis Demanding work : the paradox of job quality in the affluent economy / by Francis Green p cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-691-11712-8 (hardcover: alk paper) Quality of work life Job satisfaction Work—Social aspects I Title HD6955.G717 2006 331-25'6—dc22 2005006272 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Sabon Printed on acid-free paper ∞ press.princeton.edu Printed in the United States of America 10 This book is dedicated to my mother, Rosamund, to my late father, Keith, and to Alison, Daniel, Robert, and Toby Contents List of Illustrations xi Preface: The Quest for “More and Better Jobs” xv Acknowledgments Abbreviations One Assessing Job Quality in the Affluent Economy The Paradox of Job Quality at the Millennium Revealing a History of the Present The Changing World and the Everyday Workplace What Makes a Good Job? An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Job Quality From Quality of Work Life to “Quality in Work”? How to Measure a Good Job: Surveys of the Quality of Work Life Two The Quality of Work Life in the “Knowledge Economy” An Optimistic Outlook Theories of the Changing Demand for Skill The Concept and Measurement of Skill The Rising Level of Skill Skills Polarization? Skill, Technology, and Work Organization The Skills Balance Conclusion: A Mixed Verdict Three Late Twentieth-Century Trends in Work Effort Working Hours, Work Effort, and the Quality of Work Life The Concept and Measurement of Work Effort Work Intensification in Britain Work Intensification in Europe, Australia, and the United States Any Objections? Conclusion: A Summary of Effort Trends xxi xxiii 1 13 19 22 24 24 26 28 29 35 37 40 42 44 44 47 50 58 61 64 viii CONTENTS Four Accounting for Work Intensification The Paradox of Work Intensification in the Affluent Economy The Supply of Effort “Amber Lights” and Effort-Biased Technological Change Big Brother The Changing Balance of Power The Stick, the Carrot, and the Smooth Sell Conclusion: The Role of Technological Change Appendix: Multivariate Analyses 66 66 67 69 77 78 81 84 86 Five Workers’ Discretion The Importance of Influence The Workers’ Voice Theory about How Discretion Is Changing Trends in Discretion Conclusion: An Incomplete Account 94 94 98 99 102 107 Six The Wages of Nations Wages and the Fairness of Wages The Growth of Average Wages The Fairness of Wages Conclusion: Alright for Some 111 111 112 119 123 Seven Workers’ Risk Is This an Age of Uncertainty in the Workplace? The Concept and Measurement of Job Insecurity Workers’ Perceptions of the Trend and Distribution of Job Risk Objective Proxies for Risk Conclusion: Risk and the Quality of Work Life Eight Workers’ Well-Being A Question of Well-Being A Digression on the Notion of Subjective Well-Being A Picture of the Changing Well-Being of Workers in the Industrialized World Well-Being and the Quality of Jobs Conclusion: The Quality of Work Life Is Strained Appendix: Multivariate Analyses 126 126 130 131 142 146 150 150 151 153 160 166 168 CONTENTS ix Nine Summary and Implications for Policy on the Quality of Work Life The Rewards and Demands of Work in the Affluent Economy Policy Implications 170 178 Data Set Appendix 185 Notes 193 References 203 Index of Names 219 General Index 223 170 ... Surveys of the Quality of Work Life Two The Quality of Work Life in the “Knowledge Economy An Optimistic Outlook Theories of the Changing Demand for Skill The Concept and Measurement of Skill The. .. Preface: The Quest for “More and Better Jobs” xv Acknowledgments Abbreviations One Assessing Job Quality in the Affluent Economy The Paradox of Job Quality at the Millennium Revealing a History of the. . .DEMANDING WORK DEMANDING WORK THE PARADOX OF JOB QUALITY IN THE AFFLUENT ECONOMY Francis Green PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University