Job quality, job satisfaction and services in Spain

Abstract

Usually, labour market has been evaluated from a quantitative point of view. But nowadays, a new interest stress on quality of job and job satisfaction. Related with this last perspective, a frequent hypothesis that is used for explain the aggregate evolution of job quality establish that the growth of service employment is connected with the increase in the number of low skilled jobs or bad paid. In this context, the paper tries to get a twice objective. First, check the hypothesis that the job quality levels of services are lower than ones observed at the rest of de economy. Second, know if relevant differences among services activities exist in term of job quality. Our analysis use a double perspective to measure a job quality: one based on characteristics of job and other that is laid on worker perception of job. Results point out that services have not de lower quality job levels. Contrary, worker in services activities report higher job satisfaction levels. However, we conclude that into services there is an important heterogeneity by branches in term of job quality. Services and no services share job satisfaction components. So, the observed differences in job satisfaction are sustained rather on differences into the characteristics and conditions of jobs more than into worker's perceptions.