Project Information
Work and Life Quality in New and Growing Jobs
Background and objectives
Das von der EU (7. Rahmenprogramm) geförderte Projekt untersucht die Qualität neu ge-schaffener Beschäftigungsverhältnisse in der EU. Das Projekt wird von der Forschungs- und Beratungsstelle Arbeitswelt (FORBA) in Wien koordiniert. Dem Team gehören Forscherinnen und Forscher aus zehn EU-Ländern sowie Norwegen an.
Im Arbeitsprogramm werden die Ziele und das Vorgehen wie folgt zusammengefasst:
"WALQING aims to explore the linkages between 'new jobs', conditions of work and employment in these jobs and more or less favourable outcomes for employees' quality of work and life. To achieve this, WALQING combines data analysis of the chief European data sources, in-depth comparative investigation of stakeholder policies, organisational arrangements and strategies, and the perspectives and agency of individuals in 'new jobs'. WALQING involves interest organisations and other stakeholders from an early point in time by focusing on existing policies and arenas and gaps in these policies and taking an action-research perspective. Its aims are
- to identify expanding economic activities in Europe with problematic configurations in terms of low wages, precarious employment and lack of social integration
- to investigate existing social partner and other stakeholder policies seeking to improve conditions in these industries and involve stakeholders in the assessment of both problematic and favourable practices
- to analyse possible relations between various ways of organising new types of work in terms of contractual arrangements, working hours, etc., and the impact on the quality of work and life, as well as the conditions of configurations that are favourable and sustainable on both the organisational and the individual level
- to bring together institutionalist, organisational and action-research perspectives in or-der to transfer examples of good practice beyond their national context and to explore the limitations of such transfers
- from these analyses, to identify gaps in stakeholder, national and European policy that may contribute to locking organisations and individuals in patterns of low-wage and poor job quality and investigate the possibilities to transfer examples of organisational strategies that support higher-quality paths.
Approach
WALQING aims to increase researchers', stakeholders', managers' and policymakers' knowledge of the quality of work and life in new and growing jobs, their capacity to identify problematic configurations of market developments, policies and company strategies as well as good examples and practices that can be translated across Europe while maintaining or even enhancing the competitiveness of companies and economies. Thus it brings experts from of labour economics, sociology, management studies, work psychology and cultural anthropology together. WALQING connects the research perspectives of
- in-depth data analysis of the key EU datasets on job growth, quality of work and quality of life (ELF, EWCS, EU-SILC),
- comparative institutional analysis and stocktaking of European and national policies and social dialogues in the field,
- qualitative case study research and comparative analysis on the company level and the level of individual perspectives and lifecourses,
- and rapid, iterated communication with stakeholders using an action-research perspective that aims at supporting stakeholders in selected sectors in developing evidence-based and adequate policies and improving mutual understanding of the possibilities and limitations of such policies."
Publications
Hohnen, Pernille, 2012: Capacities and vulnerabilities in precarious work. The perspective of employees in European low wage jobs. Synthesis report on employees’ experience and work trajectories for work package 7 of the walqing project. Deliverable 7.14, ‘Integrated report on individual perspectives and agency of jobholders in critical sectors’ for the walqing project, SSH-CT-2009-244597 | Lesen
Holtgrewe, Ursula / Sardadvar, Karin, 2012: Hard work. Job quality and organisation in European low-wage sectors. Synthesis report on company case studies for work package 6 of the walqing project. Deliverable 6.13, ‘Integrated report on organisational case studies’ for Workpackage 6 of the walqing project, SSH-CT-2009-244597 | Lesen
Holtgrewe, Ursula / Sardadvar, Karin (Hg.), 2012: Reinigungsbranche: Büroreinigung. walqing-Branchenbroschüren. | Lesen
Holtgrewe, Ursula / Sardadvar, Karin (Hg.), 2012: Bauwirtschaft: „Green Jobs“ am Bau. walqing-Branchenbroschüren
Holtgrewe, Ursula / Sardadvar, Karin (Hg.), 2012: Abfallwirtschaft: Müllsammlung und -beseitigung. walqing-Branchenbroschüren | Lesen
Holtgrewe, Ursula / Sardadvar, Karin (Hg.), 2012: Gesundheit und Soziales: Mobile Altenpflege und -betreuung walqing-Branchenbroschüren
Holtgrewe, Ursula / Sardadvar, Karin (Hg.), 2012: Hotel- und Gastgewerbe: Kantinen und Caterer. walqing-Branchenbroschüre | Lesen
Jaehrling, Karen / Lehndorff, Steffen, 2012: Anchors for Job Quality. Policy gaps and potentials: Final report of work package 8 of the walqing project. Deliverable 8.9 of the walqing project, "Report on possibilities and gaps of (stakeholder and state) policies", SSH-CT-2009-244597. Duisburg: Inst. Arbeit und Qualifikation
Sardadvar, Karin / Hohnen, Pernille / Kümmerling, Angelika / McClelland, Charlotte / Naujaniene, Rasa / Villosio, Claudia, 2012: Underpaid, overworked, but happy? Ambiguous experiences and processes of vulnerabilization in domiciliary elderly care. In: E-Journal of International and Comparative Labour Studies (-) 1 (3-4), pp. 139-168 | Lesen
Jaehrling, Karen / Weinkopf, Claudia, 2011: Tight margins and marginal employment: The catering sector in Germany. Duisburg: Inst. Arbeit und Qualifikation. Walqing social partnership series 2011.13 | Lesen
Kümmerling, Angelika, 2011: And who cares for the carer?" Elderly Care Work in Germany. Duisburg: Inst. Arbeit und Qualifikation. walqing social partnership series 2011.6
Lectures
Dr. Karen Jaehrling: Does public procurement reinforce or mitigate labour market dualisation? International Working Party on Labour Market Segmentation (IWPLMS), 34th Annual Conference "Austerity without end? European employment in the crisis“, Dublin, Trinity College, 12.09.2013
Dr. Karen Jaehrling: A hidden third hand: On the role of public procurement for the regulation of job quality in public services. "States in Crisis". SASE Annual Conference 2013. Italy, University of Milan, Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, 27.06.2013
Dr. Karen Jaehrling: "More and better jobs” in unlikely sectors? Work and life quality in new and growing jobs (mit U.Holtgrewe und V. Kirov). ETUI Monthly Forum. Brüssel, European Trade Union Institute, 26.11.2012
Dr. Angelika Kümmerling: Arbeitsbedingungen in der Altenpflege im europäischen Vergleich. Konferenz: Dienstleistung ein Gesicht geben. Berlin, Wert.Arbeit.GmbH. Berlin, 28.09.2012
Dr. Steffen Lehndorff: Job quality at risk - policy gaps and challenges. Hard work? Pursuing quality of work and life in European low-wage sectors. Wien, Final conference of the EU-funded walqing project, 20.09.2012
Dr. Karen Jaehrling: Outsourcing, customer markets and regulation. Hard work? Pursuing quality of work and life in European low-wage sectors. Final conference of the EU-funded walqing project . Wien, Forschungs- und Beratungsstelle Arbeitswelt (FORBA), 20.09.2012
Dr. Angelika Kümmerling: Gender segmentation and inequality. Hard work? Pursuing quality of work and life in European low-wage sectors. Final conference of the EU-funded walqing project. Wien, Forschungs- und Beratungsstelle Arbeitswelt (FORBA), 20.09.2012
Manuela Schwarzkopf: Undocumented work in private households. Improving Women's Work? WALQING Stakeholder Workshop with a special focus on Elderly Care and Cleaning. Austria, Vienna, Forschungs- und Beratungsstelle Arbeitswelt (ForBA), 10.11.2011
Dr. Karen Jaehrling: The hidden third hand in determining the quality of jobs: the role of contract awarding in catering . Stakeholders' Seminar "Addressing quality of work in the services". Barcelona, Oficina d'Estudis i Recursos Culturals, Forschungsprojekt 'WALQING' (Work and Life Quality in New and Growing Jobs), 12.09.2011