Measuring Scotland’s Performance as a Leading Fair Work Nation

Appendix B: International Fair Work Nation Framework Update Note

The International Fair Work Nation Framework comprises 16 indicators measured across up to nine countries. Indicators capture the relative progress of countries across the five dimensions of Fair Work as defined by the Fair Work Convention (FWC): Opportunity, Respect, Security, Fulfilment, and Effective Voice. In this appendix, we discuss the data sources of the selected indicators and how to access them in order to replicate our findings or update them with newer data in the future.

For all indicators, the data sources for Scotland are the same as those described in Appendix A, unless explicitly stated.

Opportunity

Data for all indicators in this dimension are updated regularly.

Disability employment gap:

• Data for the international comparators are published by Eurostat, and drawn from the EU-LFS. The Eurostat indicator measures the gap in employment between those with some or severe activity limitation, and those without. Data is updated annually. Metadata information is available online.
• Data for England can be accessed through Nomis:official census and labour market statistics, online. To estimate the indicator for English data, the process is the same as discussed in Appendix A.

Gender economic inactivity gap:

• Data for the international comparators are published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and are drawn from Labour Force Survey statistics. The data can be downloaded from the ILO Statistics (ILOSTAT) website that can be accessed online. The file code is: EIP_DWAP_SEX_AGE_RT_A.
• Data for England can be accessed through Nomis: official census and labour market statistics. To estimate the indicator for English data, the process is the same as discussed in Appendix A.

Youth unemployment rate:

• Data for the international comparators are published by the ILO and are drawn from Labour Force Survey statistics. The indicator used is the SDG indicator 8.5.2^[221] and can be accessed online. The file code is: SDG_0852_SEX_AGE_RT_A.
• Data for England can be accessed through Nomis: official census and labour market statistics.

Respect

Workplace non-fatal injuries per 100,000

• Data for the international comparators are published by the ILO using various sources including administrative and survey data. The indicator used is the SDG indicator 8.8.1 – Non-fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 workers, and can be accessed online. The file code is SDG_N881_SEX_MIG_RT_A.
• Data for England are published by the Health and Safety Executive.

Prevalence of work related ill-health and disease

• Data for the international comparators are published by Eurostat using EU-LFS data. The Eurostat indicator measures the percentage of people reporting a work-related health problem by sex, age, and educational attainment. Data is updated annually and can be accessed online. Metadata information is available online.
• Data for England are published by the Health and Safety Executive.
• Health and Safety Executive statistics present this figure as prevalence per 100,000 workers. To construct an indicator of prevalence as a percentage for English and Scottish HSE data, we divided the figures presented by 100.

Security

Gender pay gap

It is important to note that the gender pay gap reported as part of the International Fair Work Nation Framework in Chapters Two and Three differs slightly in definition compared to the indicator included in the Fair Work Measurement Framework in Chapter One. The Measurement Framework captures the gender pay gap for full-time workers, while the International Framework captures the gender pay gap in average hourly earnings across all paid employees.

• Data for the international comparators is published by Eurostat using the four-yearly Structure of Earnings Survey, and/or national estimates based on national sources. The indicator is defined similarly to the indicator used for Scotland as “the difference between average hourly earnings of male paid employees and of female paid employees as a percentage of gross hourly earnings of male paid employees”.^[222] Data is updated annually and can be accessed online, metadata information is available online.
• Data for Scotland and England are drawn from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), are updated annually, and published in tables by the Scottish Government online. The figures for the relevant indicator for Scotland and England can be found in Table 3.1.

Underemployment

• Data for the international comparators are published by the ILO and are drawn from Labour Force Surveys. The indicator used is the ILOSTAT indicator for time-related underemployment, and can be accessed online. The file code is TRU_DEMP_SEX_AGE_RT_A.
• Data for England are calculated using Annual Population Survey data, following the same methodology outlined in Appendix A for the Scottish indicator.

Permanent employment

• Data on the number (in thousands) of employees who have a temporary or permanent contract are published by the ILO as part of its Labour Force Statistics and are drawn from Labour Force Surveys. The data can be accessed online. The file code is EES_TEES_SEX_AGE_JOB_NB_A. Data is updated annually. To calculate the permanent employment rate, we calculated the ratio of the number of workers with a permanent contract to the total number of employees.
• National statistics on permanent and temporary employment in England are published by the Office for National Statistics, as part of Ethnicity Facts and Figures publication, using data from the Annual Population Survey.^[223]
• Data included in the available spreadsheet are presented separately for each region of England (East Midlands, East of England, London, North East England, North West England, South East England, South West England, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber). To calculate the indicator for permanent employment in England, we sum the number indicated as “numerator” (number of people in permanent employment) when selecting Permanent as “employment type” for each region of England and then the same for the “denominator” for each region (total people in employment). Then we divide the sum of “numerators” to the sum of “denominators”.

Involuntary non-permanent work

• Data for the international comparators are published by Eurostat using EU-LFS data. The Eurostat indicator measures the percentage of temporary employees who reported “no permanent job found” as the main reason for working in a temporary job. Data is updated annually and can be accessed online. Metadata information is available online.
• Data for England can be accessed through the HI01-09 Regional labour market: headline indicators publications for each region in England, published by the Office for National Statistics. Separate Excel data files can be downloaded for North East,^[224] North West,^[225] Yorkshire and Humber,^[226] East Midlands,^[227] West Midlands,^[228] East of England,^[229] London,^[230] South East,^[231] and South West.^[232] The rate of involuntary non-permanent work can be calculated using data from the relevant Excel tables on “Employment; Full-time, part-time and temporary workers (levels): People”.

Involuntary part-time work

• Data for the international comparators are published by Eurostat using EU-LFS data. The Eurostat indicator measures the percentage of part-time employees who reported working part-time because they could not find a full-time job. Data is updated annually and can be accessed online. Metadata information can be accessed online.
• Data for England can be accessed through the HI01-09 Regional labour market: headline indicators publications for each region in England, published by the Office for National Statistics. Separate Excel data files can be downloaded for North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, and South West. The rate of involuntary part-time work can be calculated using data from the relevant Excel tables on “Employment; Full-time, part-time and temporary workers (levels): People”.

Low pay

• Data for the international comparators are published by the OECD as part of the OECD Wage levels indicators.^[233]
• Data for low pay among full-time employees in the United Kingdom are drawn from the Office for National Statistics’ Low and high pay in the UK publications for 2018^[234] and 2019.^[235] This publication also includes statistics on low pay for all employees in Scotland.

Fulfilment

Overqualification

• Data for the international comparators are published by the OECD in the Skills for Jobs database with data drawn from the EU Labour Force Survey. It is important to note that data is not up-to-date, and the latest data refer to 2019. Data can be accessed online. The indicator of interest is Qualification mismatch – Overqualification.
• Data for Scotland are drawn from the Working Lives Scotland survey (see Appendix A).

Effective Voice

Trade Union membership

• Data for the international comparators are published by the ILO as part of its Industrial Relations Data publications. Data is drawn from various national sources, including the LFS for Ireland and Iceland. Data is updated regularly, although data is not up-to-date for all countries. The ILO trade union density indicator can be accessed online. The file code is ILR_TUMT_NOC_RT_A.
• Data for England are available in Trade Union Statistics published by the Department for Business and Trade and previously the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and published annually.

Collective bargaining

• Data for the international comparators except for Ireland are published by the ILO as part of its Industrial Relations Data publications. Data is updated regularly, although data is not up-to-date for all countries. The ILOSTAT Collective bargaining coverage rate can be accessed online. The file code
• is ILR_CBCT_NOC_RT_A. For Ireland, data are published by the OECD as part of the database on Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts (ICTWSS), and can be accessed online. The indicator of interest is collective bargaining coverage.
• Data for England are available in Trade Union Statistics published by the Department for Business and Trade and previously the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and published annually.