Chapter Four: Conclusion
The Scottish Government wants to ensure Scotland becomes a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025. The Fair Work Convention was founded in 2015 and has been central to promoting Fair Work in Scotland and developing the Fair Work Measurement Framework, which helps the Scottish Government track progress towards its ambition.
Alma Economics, commissioned by the Fair Work Convention, carried out independent research focusing on (i) tracking Scotland’s progress compared to the 2016 baseline, (ii) understanding Scotland’s relative performance against other leading nations, and (iii) providing useful insights into key areas for improvement and future research.
For this purpose, our team:
- Updated the indicators of the Fair Work Measurement Framework using the latest available data, addressed evidence gaps identified in the previous Fair Work in Scotland Report, and compared performance across these indicators against previous years.
- Developed an International Fair Work Nation Framework that includes a subset of indicators from the Measurement Framework, enabling a comparison of Scotland’s performance in Fair Work with a diverse set of broadly comparable countries.
- Established a definition of “leading” performance in Fair Work to assist in understanding Scotland’s performance and setting reasonable medium- and long-term ambitions for achieving Fair Work in the country.
- Derived useful lessons from countries that are showcasing leading performance in Fair Work.
Since 2016, Scotland has seen improvements in some areas, but progress has not been uniform. Out of the 46 indicators, 20 have improved, 10 have worsened, and 14 have fluctuated or remained broadly stable. For the two newly added indicators, there is no data from previous years.
The International Framework compares Scotland to Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and England. The framework includes 14 indicators, of which 13 are drawn from the Fair Work Measurement Framework and 1 is unique to the International Framework.
The International Framework can help researchers understand areas where Scotland is doing well compared to its counterparts and areas where it is lagging behind. Moreover, it provides the foundation for exploring the institutional and policy factors, and best practices that can contribute to successful improvements in Fair Work.
Based on a rapid literature review focusing on drawing best practices and facilitators of success in countries performing well in Fair Work indicators where Scotland faces challenges, a set of policies has been identified. These policies warrant further comprehensive research to assess their impact on the areas of interest, as well as their applicability and potential effectiveness within the Scottish context.The policies include:
- Active Labour Market Policies, including training, job search support, job creation schemes, and other specialised support programmes
- Family Support policies, including parental leave and childcare support
- Health, safety and well-being at work policy and best practices
- Firm-level gender equality enforcement in the workplace policies
- Trade Union and Collective Agreements, which the Scottish Government announced its intention to enhance in support of Fair Work.