Fundamentos de la teoría del valor

As described in the last chapter, four groups of risk are identified and each is measured on a scale ranging from 0 (for no exposure) to 10 (maximum exposure). Also, the threshold for ‘risk’ on each component item of the scales is set based on more than 40 per cent of respondents at that threshold reporting that their health or safety was at risk because of their job. Physical risk involves exposure to vibration from tools or machinery, loud noise and extremes of temperature. Chemical/biological risk involves exposure to smoke, fumes, dust, vapours, skin contact with chemicals or contact with potentially infectious materials. Physically demanding work is work requiring painful or tiring positions almost all the time, lifting or moving people, carrying or moving heavy loads or constant repetitive

hand or arm movements. Psycho-social risks include unwanted sexual attention, physical violence in the last 12 months or bullying or harassment in the last 12 months.

FIGURE 2.1 Risks (0-10) by Country and Regime (Gross, No Controls)

Source: European Working Conditions Survey, 2010, analysis by authors.

Note: Luxembourg and Romania not shown. AL Albania, AT Austria, BG Bulgaria, BE Belgium, CZ Czech Republic, CY Cyprus, DE Germany, DK Denmark, EE Estonia, EL Greece, ES Spain, FI Finland, FR France, HR Hungary, HR Croatia, IE Ireland, IT Italy, LV Latvia, LT Lithuania, LU Luxembourg, MT Malta, MK Macedonia, ME Montenegro, NO Norway, NL Netherlands, PT Portugal, PL Poland, RO Romania, SK Slovakia, SE Sweden, SI Slovenia, TY Turkey, UK United Kingdom, XK Kosovo.

Figure 2.1 shows the country average level of exposure to each type of risk. The countries are grouped according to the regime types identified in the last chapter and Figure 2.2 shows the average by regime. We can see that exposure to physical, chemical/biological and physical demand risk are quite variable across countries but the levels of exposure to psycho-social risk are lower and less variable across countries. While there is some tendency for regimes to differ,

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0

DKNOSE FI NL DE AT BE LU FR UK IE IT PT ESMTEL CZ PL SK LT LV EE HRBGME SI ROCY ALHUTU XKMK

Nordic Continental Liberal Southern Eastern

with the lowest levels of exposure in the Nordic regime and the highest level in the Eastern regime, there are large country differences in exposure within most of the regimes. An exception is the Liberal regime, which includes Ireland and the UK. These two countries are very similar in levels of exposure to the different risks. Within the Nordic regime, levels of exposure tend to be lowest in Denmark and highest in Finland. In the Continental regime, France is an outlier with much higher levels of exposure to risks, especially physical risks. Greece is an outlier in the Southern regime and has more in common with countries such as Turkey in terms of exposure to physical and chemical/biological risks. There is huge variation within the Eastern countries, with much lower levels of exposure in countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia than in Macedonia, Kosovo, Turkey and Hungary. In fact, the first group of countries have more in common with the Continental or Southern groups, apart from France and Greece, than with the highest-risk countries in the Eastern group.

FIGURE 2.2 Mean Risk (0-10) by Regime (Gross, No Controls)

Source: European Working Conditions Survey, 2010, analysis by authors.

In general, exposure to physical risk and to physically demanding work is lower in the Nordic countries than elsewhere, but there is no particular pattern for these two types of risk across the other employment regimes. The Continental group has a high average score in terms of exposure to psycho-social risk and this group is joint highest (together with the Eastern countries) in terms of exposure to chemical/biological risks. The continental countries are towards the middle of the distribution in terms of exposure to physical risks and to physically demanding work. 0.8 1.1 0.9 1.3 1.7 0.9 1.2 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.0 1.2 1.0 1.5 1.6 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8

Nordic Continental Liberal Southern Eastern

The Liberal group, which includes Ireland and the UK, fall between the Nordic and Continental countries in terms of the level of exposure to different types of workplace risks. In general, the level of exposure is relatively low in these two countries.

The Southern and Eastern groups have the lowest scores on exposure to psycho- social risks, but the highest scores in terms of exposure to physical risks and physically demanding work.

These figures represent the overall differences between the countries and country groups. No adjustment is made for differences in the composition of jobs or of the workforce. We might expect, for instance, that the level of exposure to physical risk would vary depending on the proportion of the workforce that is engaged in agriculture, construction and manufacturing. On the other hand, exposure to psycho-social risk might be higher where the workforce is diverse or where there are few protections in the form of anti-bullying or equality policies. In subsequent analyses, we will control for differences in the composition of jobs and workers to see to what extent the differences between countries and regimes are affected by these compositional characteristics.