Survey highlights employee turnover, poverty and gender pay gap

Martín Artiles, Antonio

Overview

Article

Survey highlights employee turnover, poverty and gender pay gap

Published: 23 February 2006

The findings of a survey of living conditions in Spain, published in December 2005, highlight a number of issues of importance to current debate on employment and social policy. For example, the survey finds high employee turnover, affecting mainly the young, a high risk of poverty for people under 16 and over 65, and a wide pay gap between men and women.

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The findings of a survey of living conditions in Spain, published in December 2005, highlight a number of issues of importance to current debate on employment and social policy. For example, the survey finds high employee turnover, affecting mainly the young, a high risk of poverty for people under 16 and over 65, and a wide pay gap between men and women.

The Survey of Living Conditions (SLC) is an annual survey carried out in households in all the countries of the European Union. The main aim of the survey is to provide information on income, poverty and social exclusion, and to allow comparison between the EU Member States. The survey also provides longitudinal information, because it is a panel survey in which the interviewees collaborate over several years. The survey provides information on subjects such as employment, household income, poverty and the risk of social exclusion, housing, training and the socio-economic situation.

In the Spanish case the survey is based on a sample of 15,000 households distributed throughout the country. The main findings of the survey carried out in 2004 and published in December 2005 are summarised below.

Employee turnover

The survey examines employees' job turnover - see table 1 below - showing the effects of Spain's high rate of temporary employment. A high job turnover was found mainly among workers aged 16 to 29, of whom 19.6% had changed job in the last year. This affects men more than women. The main reasons why young workers change job are to get a more suitable job (43.0%) and because their contract has terminated (36.9%). A higher proportion of men than women leave to try to get a more suitable job (46.7% compared with 38.2%).

On the other hand, workers aged 45 to 64 have a low job turnover. Only 5.4% state that they have changed job in the last year, though the percentage is slightly higher for women.

Job turnover affects almost all levels of education equally, with no significant differences. However, there are differences in the reason for changing job. A higher proportion of workers with higher education than workers with primary education change job to get a more suitable one (41.9% compared with 31.5%).

**Table 1. Persons who have changed job in the last 12 months (%), 2004**
Groups	Total change	Reason: to get a more suitable job	Reason: end of contract.
Total	10.9	39.0	33.9
Highest education level:	.	.	.
Primary education	8.2	31.5	37.4
First stage of secondary education	11.4	34.9	38.9
Second stage of secondary education.	10.8	42.6	27.6
Higher education	11.5	41.9	32.7
Education not specified	17.7	2.0	0.0

Source: SLC 2004.

Average annual income

The average net income of Spanish households is EUR 21,551 per year, according to the survey - see table 2 below. The average annual income per person is EUR 7,591. The regions with the highest income are Madrid and Catalonia, with an average of EUR 25,493 and EUR 24,763 per household respectively. The regions with the lowest income are Extremadura and Andalusia, with an average of EUR 16,470 and EUR 18,336 per household respectively. Both of the latter are among the 'Objective 1' regions of the European Union.

**Table 2. Average net annual income by regions (EUR), 2004**
Regions	Average income per household	Average income per person
Andalusia	18,336	6,027
Aragon	22,198	8,383
Asturias	22,414	8,229
Balearic Islands	23,096	8,601
Canary Islands	19,834	6,748
Cantabria	24,120	8,085
Castilla y León	18,727	6,902
Castilla-la Mancha	18,909	6,484
Catalonia	24,763	9,064
Valencian Community	20,398	7,350
Extremadura	16,470	5,653
Galicia	20,120	6,925
Madrid Community	25,493	9,111
Murcia	20,554	6,566
Navarre	24,695	8,777
Basque Country	23,777	8,728
Rioja	19,724	7,520
Ceuta and Melilla	21,851	6,971
Spain, average	21,551	7,591

Source: SLC 2004.

Gender pay gap

The gross hourly pay of women is 9.4% lower than the national average, the survey finds. The gross hourly pay of men is 6.3% higher than the national average. In other words, the difference in gross pay between men and women is 17.3% in favour of men.

Gross monthly pay also shows a large gender difference. Taking 100 as a reference, the pay of men is 112.9, whereas that of women is 80.6.

Relative poverty

The survey finds that 19% of the resident population in Spain is below the 'relative poverty threshold'. Women show the highest rates: 20.8% compared with 19% for men. These figures calculated by the National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE) are similar to those obtained in the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) during the period 1994-2001. The relative poverty risk is also polarised. The main age groups below the poverty threshold are persons over 65 and under 16, with rates of 29.6% and 24.3% respectively. The risk of poverty affects particularly those with only a primary or lower level of education (32.2%), followed by those with only the first stage of secondary education (21.1%), whereas those with a higher education have a low risk of poverty (7.9%). In other words, the lower the level of education, the higher the risk of poverty.

Economic situation of households

The possibility of households to afford certain expenses goes some way towards illustrating the economic boom in Spain. For example, 60% of the households interviewed claim that they have a certain capacity for meeting unforeseen expenses. However, the reality of low pay is shown in other indicators, such as the fact that 44% of households cannot afford paid holidays away from home. Furthermore, 7% of households are unable to buy a car.

The main economic difficulties of households are in access to housing. Households spend an average of EUR 205 per month on items such as rent, mortgages, property owners' association fees, water and other expenses associated with housing. However, this amount varies according to the annual income of the household. The average expenditure is between EUR 118 for households with an annual income below EUR 9,000 and EUR 291 for households with annual incomes of over EUR 35,000. The average expenditure on housing varies according to the type of household. Single-person households have the lowest average expenditures: EUR 159. Households with dependent children have the highest expenditure: EUR 255 for households of two adults with at least one dependent child and EUR 228 for households of one adult with at least one dependent child.

Commentary

The new Survey on Living Conditions carried out by the National Statistics Institute began in 2004. It represents an adaptation and methodological updating of the previous European Community Household Panel (ECHP) survey. This new survey is better adapted to the requirements of social policies and complies with the requirement of EU regulations that determine the methodology for statistical harmonisation for the purposes of comparison between countries.

This new instrument survey warnings and guidance for social policies. The current Socialist government is preparing a new Dependent Care Law negotiated with the trade unions, which affects particularly elderly people, the main group threatened by poverty and social exclusion. (Antonio Martín Artiles, QUIT-UAB)

Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.

Eurofound (2006), Survey highlights employee turnover, poverty and gender pay gap, article.