UGT Catalonia compares labour market quality in Spain and beyond

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2001 saw the publication of the findings of research conducted by the Catalonian regional organisation of Spain's UGT trade union confederation, comparing 'labour market quality' in the regions of Spain, along with major industrial regions elsewhere in Europe and the EU average. Using 20 employment and labour market indicators, the UGT Catalonia 'iQT index' puts the quality of Spain's regional labour markets behind the EU average, with the labour markets of Rhône-Alpes, Lombardy and Baden-Württemberg having the highest rankings.

The Catalonian regional organisation of the General Workers' Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT), in collaboration with Alcalá University and the CIREM Foundation, has recently drawn up a system for measuring progress in the quality of the labour market and employment. This system consists of a series of indicators and a 'synthetic index' (the iQT index), which aims to show the relative position (or ranking) of the different regions of Spain and elsewhere in the European Union in terms of the concept of 'labour market quality'. These indicators are based mainly on an assessment of the outcomes of employment and labour market policies, and of collective bargaining.

The UGT Catalonia initiative is based on the idea of using statistics to make comparisons between EU Member States and regions in terms of reaching objectives established in different fields, and to determine which policies are efficient and which should be improved. The figures are also used to show what good practices are being applied, which would be impossible to demonstrate without statistics. Statistics are also seen as essential for examining the effectiveness of the Member States in reaching the objectives agreed in the EU Employment Guidelines as part of the European employment strategy. The current change in this area could not have come about, it is stated, without the definition of objectives and strategies with regard to the labour market and employment, pressure by the parties involved, and 'benchmarking'.

The UGT Catalonia system analyses the quality of the labour market in Catalonia in comparison with the other 17 Spanish autonomous communities (regions), three other European regions that are considered to be industrial motors of the EU (Rhône-Alpes, Lombardy and Baden-Württemberg) and the average of the 15 EU Member States. To make this comparison, an analysis was made of 20 different indicators and their development in 1995, 1998 and 1999. The findings were published in 2001 in 'Indicador de qualitat del mercat de treball. Catalunya en comparació amb d'altres regions espanyoles i europees', Luis Toharia and David Moreno, in Anuari sociolaboral de la UGT de Catalunya 2000, Centre de Recerca Econòmica i Social de Catalunya (CRESC), Barcelona, 2001.

The aim of the exercise was to draw up a series of indicators covering different dimensions of the quality of the labour market that could be weighted to determine the relative situation in the various European regions. The aim was not to establish the differences between the regions in terms of employment quality but merely to determine their relative positions. The operative definition of the concept of 'labour market quality' used corresponds to a trade union definition of a 'quality labour market'. It is oriented towards guaranteeing employment and improving quality of life, equality and social integration. The most innovative aspect is that mainly economic indicators of competitiveness were not used. Instead, the system focuses on social aspects, and indicators of competitiveness were used as 'exogenous variables'.

A total of 20 labour market supply indicators were considered in the analysis, divided into three main groups and several subgroups, in addition to an average indicator of the differences between women and men for these 20 indicators. The three main groups are

• the extent of guaranteed employment;

• quality of working life, with regard to job stability, purchasing power, working time and working conditions; and

• equality and integration in employment.

Table 1 below lists all the indicators used.