ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses conceptual and measurement issues in job quality. Labor market segmentation is typically held to link production networks to other social networks of recruitment and supply—eroding the distinction between job and jobholder. A neoclassical perspective, adopts a hedonic view of job quality: Each job is a bundle of characteristics that may be varied at will by employers; workers with varying valuations of these characteristics vote with their feet by choosing to apply for particular jobs, clearing the market. A job’s holder brings particular expectations to a job, and the employer’s view of the job is colored by the worker holding it. Cross-national surveys show similar trends at work in most industrialized countries. Whether one can even imagine a job serving as a source of personal fulfilment is largely determined by social context—the shared values embedded in production networks and other social networks—as well as economic well-being.
