Ingrid Esser, Stockholm University

Purpose and changes in purpose

The overall purpose of the project was to analyze how welfare state and labour market institutions influence individuals' work orientation in terms of actual behaviour and the connection to work attitudes. Specific focus was also directed to examining how social politics shape attitudes among people with less stable work positions, in increasingly precarious labour markets, i.e. among younger and older people, women, the unemployed.

The most significant findings

The project has resulted in several publications including articles in international journals, book chapters (also peer-reviewed) and a number of finished or nearly finished articles that are to be submitted within the upcoming months, cf list provided.

The project has generated several findings. One important result is that there is no evidence of strong work disincentive effects within the more the generous welfare states of the Nordic countries as compared to the more residual welfare state types found in e.g. the United States or the United Kingdom. To the contrary, labour force participation continues to be higher, also through times of economic crises, in the Nordic countries, especially among women and the older workers aged 55-64. These patterns are even more distinct comparison to the corporatist welfare states of western continental Europe. For women in the labour market there are also large variations across countries in the extent of part-time work, again with higher proportions of full-time working women in the Nordic countries, although Norway is an exception. Although, work commitment is lower among the unemployed in general, this only holds true in a few countries of the 15 compared countries for specific points in time, i.e. not continuously at the three years of comparison 1989, 1997 and 2005. Part-time workers, mostly women, tend to hold stronger commitment.

Another important finding is that work commitment is decidedly higher with better job quality, which needs to be measured multi-dimensionally; e.g. across dimensions of autonomy, control over work hours, variety, advancement opportunities etc. Furthermore, analyses showed how there are distinct job quality differences across countries, especially in relation to autonomy and job security. Particularly high autonomy is found in the Nordic countries and low autonomy and job security is prevalent in the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. Multi-level analyses showed how, at the country level, union density and the educational structure in terms of provision of specific skill, were both important for greater autonomy, whereas higher unemployment had a decidedly negative impact on perceived job security. Despite these distinct job quality differences, and their importance to work commitment, cross-national differences in work commitment still remained.

In a separate analysis of the role of inequality for work commitment, interesting cross-level interactions were found between socio-economic position (both education and social class), indicating how individuals with higher education and belonging to the social classes with higher status in less generous welfare states were decidedly more instrumental in their work commitment, i.e. less committed, as compared to their counter parts in more generous welfare states. The proposed theoretical explanation to these interesting findings, is that a lower sharing of collective risks will cultivate more instrumental, more money-oriented values behind educational and occupational choice.

The findings in relation to the analyses of individuals' retirement preferences and views of acceptable alternatives for delayed retirement point to several important conclusions. Firstly, the retirement decision is very complex with several strong non-pecuniary values involved, ranging from strictly health dependent convictions to parent-, partner or grand-child considerations. Secondly, large proportion 30-70% of working populations could be persuaded to retire later given reasonable economic incentives to do, so - especially in countries with lower overall welfare state generosity. Individuals' preferences specific policy preferences differ greatly, wherefore only several policy alternatives would accommodate these segments.

The two most important publications include:

1. Esser, I. (2008). "Has Safety Made People Lazy? Employment Commitment across Welfare States." In British Social Attitudes. The 25th Report, British Social Attitudes Survey series, edited by Alison Park et al. London: Sage Publications Ltd.

This study includes the central findings around the development over time in work commitment across a broad range of countries, taking into account also job quality. Findings are contrary to what is often expected and proposed by neo-classical/ liberal economists; stronger and stable, possibly increasing work commitment in more generous welfare states, as described above.

2. Esser, I. and Karen Olsen (2012). "Perceived Job Quality: Autonomy and Job Security within a Multi-Level Framework. European Sociological Review 28(4):443-454.

This study describes some large variations in job quality both by occupation at the individual level but also across countries. Both labour market institutional factors and the general unemployment rate explain these differences.

New research questions

This project has resulted in several new research questions about the interplay between individuals' work commitment, work and retirement preferences and welfare state and labour market institutions. The most interesting but still unresearched field relates to that of specific job preferences that may be expected to vary across country to some extent in relation to job quality, and is expected to influence greatly health, well-being and work commitment, thus both individual and organisational vitality. In a comparative perspective it would be very interesting to see which institutions may accommodate a better matching.

Presentations

Due to space considerations I report the main conference presentations given and occasions when I have been specifically invited to present research findings.

Esser, I. (2012). "Retirement preferences, employment commitment and acceptabel alternatives for delayed retirement: Sweden in Comparative Perspective." Paper presented at Nordic Conference on Seniors in Working Life, organised by Senter for seniorpolitikk, Hotell Bristol, Oslo, 26 september 2012.

Esser, I. (2012). "Matched Job Preferences and Work Related Well-Being in Europe - Do Institutions of Employment and Unemployment Protection Matter?" Paper presented at the European Social Survey conference, "Exploring Public Attitudes, Informing Public Policy in Europe", University of Cyprus, November 23-25, 2012.

Esser, I. (2012). "Employment Commitment, Welfare States and Equality: The Importance of Social Security and Equality in a Multi-level Analysis of Fifteen OECD Countries 1989-2005". Paper presented at the American Sociological Associations Annual Conference, Denver (CO), USA, August 17-20, 2012.

Esser, I and K. Olsen (2008). "The micro-macro fit between job preferences and job qualities", RECWOWE-network conference on job quality and job quantity, 2nd Annual Integration Week, Oslo, June 10-14.

Esser, I. (2008) "Employment Commitment across Welfare States and Over Time: Intended and Unintended Consequences?" Paper presented at EQUALSOC/TRALEG-Workshop, MZES, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, March 6-8, 2008.

Invited presentations
Esser, I., (2012) Pensionspreferenser, arbetsmotivation och acceptabla alternativ för senare pensionering i komparativt perspektiv. Nordisk konferens om seniorer i arbeidslivet, Senter for seniorpolitikk, Oslo, Sep 26.

Esser, I (2012) Sverige genom kristider (FAFO, Oslo), Sep 25.

Esser, I (2011) Arbeidsinsentiver og arbeidsmotivasjon i ulike velferdsregimer (Work incentives and work motivation across welfare regimes)' Speach held in celebration of Knut Halvorsen research at Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus (Oslo), Nov 17, on theme 'Hva får folk til å arbeide? Lyst, plikt eller insentiver?' (What makes people work? Enjoyability, duty or incentives?).

Esser, I (2008) 'Work incentives or disincentives, institutions and policies: Work and Attitudes to Work in Comparative Perspective.' Speach held at Science Po (Paris, France), April 17.

Esser, I (2007) 'The Swedish Model's Intended and Unintended Consequences: Labour Force Participation and Attitudes to Work in Comparative Perspective.' Lecture at Institute for Future Studies (Stockholm, Sweden), December 7 as part of the VASS Fellowship Visit (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences).