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IZA Discussion Paper No. 17724
February 2025
The Relative Importance of the Establishment in the Determination of Job Quality

forthcoming in: British Journal of Industrial Relations

Using linked employer-employee data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey we examine how much of the variation in job quality is accounted for by establishment-level variation, and the relative importance of the establishment compared with occupation and employee characteristics. We do so for pay, six dimensions of non-pay job quality and overall job quality. We show that the establishment is the dominant explanatory factor for non-pay job quality, and as important as occupation in accounting for pay. Where you work accounts for between 38% and 76% of the explained variance in job quality, depending on the dimension. We also find that establishments which are 'good' on one dimension of non-pay job quality are 'good' on others. When we relate the estimated establishment effects (after allowing for the effects of occupation and of employee characteristics) to observed establishment characteristics, we find that non-pay job quality is greater in smaller establishments.

Communications
Mark Fallak
mark.fallak@liser.lu
+352 585-855-526
World of Labour
Olga Nottmeyer
olga.nottmeyer@liser.lu
+352 585-855-501
Network Coordination
Christina Gathmann
christina.gathmann@liser.lu

The IZA@LISER Network is a global community of scholars dedicated to excellence in labor economics and related fields, now coordinated at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) following its transition from Bonn.

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