Official measure of ‘quality work’ 


A new experimental measure of Job Quality was published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last December.


The measure is an attempt to quantify how “satisfied”’ UK workers are amid growing concerns about the growth of low pay, unsatisfactory hours and sub-standard contracts. 


According to the ONS, the city region with the highest proportion of residents in “quality work” is the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CA). The same region also scores the highest for low paid jobs, which seems somewhat contradictory although may be an indication of polarising inequality in the job market. 


The data is more interesting when broken down into its component parts. Using two-thirds of the UK median hourly pay as a measure for low pay (which is above the National Minimum Wage rate), the new dataset reveals that 7% of employees in the UK were in low-pay employment in 2018. 


The top three city regions for low-paid workers — female workers in all cases — were:


• Cambridgeshire & Peterborough CA;


• Aberdeen City Region; and


• Greater London Authority.


The top three for unsatisfactory hours for workers — male workers in all cases were in:


• Aberdeen City Region;


• Greater London Authority; and


• Edinburgh and South East Scotland.


Meanwhile, the top three regions for unsatisfactory contracts for workers were:


• Cambridgeshire & Peterborough CA;


• Tees Valley Combined Authority; and


• Sheffield City Region.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/jobqualityindicatorsintheukhourspayandcontracts/2018