世界銀行-超越常規(guī)：理解玻利維亞勞動力市場工作質(zhì)量的多維本質(zhì)

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PolicyResearchWorkingPaper10702

BeyondtheUsual

UnderstandingtheMultidimensionalNatureofJobQualityinBolivia’sLaborMarket

GustavoCanavire-Bacarreza

RonaldA.Cueva

MaríaE.Dávalos

WORLDBANKGROUP

PovertyandEquityGlobalPractice

February2024

PolicyResearchWorkingPaper10702

Abstract

Jobqualitycanimpactworkers’productivityandcontrib-utetosocietalwell-being.ToanalyzetheevolutionofjobqualityinBolivia,thispaperemploysBolivianhouseholdsurveydataspanning2007to2021toconstructasyntheticjobqualityindex.Theindexincorporatesabroaddefinitionofagoodjob,encompassingsixdimensions:adherencetoregulations,workingconditions,establishmentofanappro-priatewage-joblinkage,productiveusageandadaptability

ofskills,availabilityofcareeropportunities,andemploy-mentresilience.ThefindingsindicatethatjobqualityinBoliviahasmostlyremainedincessant,exhibitinglimitedchangeevenduringperiodsofhighgrowthineconomicoutput.However,thisresultmasksheterogeneities,withsignificantvariationinjobqualityassociatedwithworkers’demographicandjob-specificcharacteristicsandacrossregions.

ThispaperisaproductofthePovertyandEquityGlobalPractice.ItispartofalargereffortbytheWorldBanktoprovideopenaccesstoitsresearchandmakeacontributiontodevelopmentpolicydiscussionsaroundtheworld.PolicyResearchWorkingPapersarealsopostedontheWebat

/prwp.Theauthorsmaybecontacted

atgcanavire@,mdavalos@,andrcuevac1@.

ThePolicyResearchWorkingPaperSeriesdisseminatesthefindingsofworkinprogresstoencouragetheexchangeofideasaboutdevelopmentissues.Anobjectiveoftheseriesistogetthefindingsoutquickly,evenifthepresentationsarelessthanfullypolished.Thepaperscarrythenamesoftheauthorsandshouldbecitedaccordingly.Thefindings,interpretations,andconclusionsexpressedinthispaperareentirelythoseoftheauthors.TheydonotnecessarilyrepresenttheviewsoftheInternationalBankforReconstructionandDevelopment/WorldBankanditsaffiliatedorganizations,orthoseoftheExecutiveDirectorsoftheWorldBankorthegovernmentstheyrepresent.

ProducedbytheResearchSupportTeam

BeyondtheUsual:UnderstandingtheMultidimensional

NatureofJobQualityinBolivia’sLaborMarket*

GustavoCanavire-Bacarrezat

RonaldA.Cueva?

Mar′?aE.D′avalos§

Keywords:LaborMarket,PrincipalComponentAnalysis,JobQuality,BoliviaJEL

Classiication:J21,J26,J28,J81

*TheopinionsexpressedinthispaperarethoseoftheauthorsanddonotnecessarilyreflecttheviewsoftheWorldBank,itsBoardofDirectors,orthecountriestheyrepresent.WethankCarlosRodriguez-Castelan,DarioMaldonado,IndhiraVanessaSantos,CamilleLampartandTanjaGoodwinfortheirvery

helbgremainingerrorsareourown.

?UniversityofIllinoisUrbana-Champaign,UrbanaIL,USAEmail:rcuevac1@§TheWorldBank,WashingtonDC,USAEmail:mdavalos@

1

1Introduction

Thesignificanceofjobqualityiswidelyacknowledged,withalinkestablishedbetweengoodjobs,productivityandlivingstandards(

WorldBank

2012

).Forinstance,

Oswald

etal.

(2015)providecausalevidenceofthelinkagebetweenhappinessshocksandhuman

productivityusingexperimentalandobservationalevidence.Intheirstudy,theyareabletodistinguishbetween“shortterm”positiveaffectandlongtermwell-beingandfindthatbothhavesignificantimpactsenhancingproductivity.Relatedtotheformerone,

Lyubomirsky

etal.

(2005)usedifferentsourcesofevidencetoshowthatpositiveaffectprovokessuccess,

notonlyrelatedtoworklifebutacrossotherlifedomainsaswell.

Inthissense,whatdefinesagoodjob?Thereisincreasingrecognitionthatjobqualityencompassesmultipledimensions.SDG8onDecentWorkandEconomicGrowthincludesindicatorson,forexample,protectinglaborrightsandpromotingsafeworkingenvironments,andendingchildlabor.Similarly,theILO’sDecentWorkIndicatorscoverissuesofadequateearnings,decentworkingtime,stabilityandsecurityatwork,andsocialsecurity,amongothers.Despitethisrecognitionofthemultidimensionalityofaqualityjob,thenotionofwhatagoodjobishasoftenbeenlimitedtosingleindicators,suchasinformality.

Theincreasingfocusonindicesofjobqualityaimsatprovidingamoreholisticviewofwhatagoodjobis.Attemptstomeasurejobqualityhavedemonstrateditssubstantialroleinthewellbeingofindividuals,particularlyindevelopingcountrieswherelabormarkets

exhibitweaknessesanddisparities(Clark

2005a

)aswellasahighersegmentationbetweentheformalandinformalsectors.

Boliviahasmadestridesinlabormarketindicatorsrelatedtoparticipationrates;how-ever,despitethesenotableadvancements,thecountrystillgrappleswithseveralstructurallabormarketchallenges,evidentinasizableinformalsectorandoutdatedlabormarketregulationsthathaveresultedinunsatisfactoryjobconditions(

Muriel&Machicado

2014

).Forexample,thelaborlaw(LeyGeneraldeTrabajo)datesbacktothe1940swhenitwasenactedasasolutiontothefeudalrelationshipbetweenemployersandworkers

.1

2

The

1Thereisempiricalevidencefromdevelopingcountriesshowinghowstricterlaborregulationscanaffecteconomicperformanceintermsofoutput,employment,investmentandproductivity(

Besley&Burgess

2004

).

2

Muriel&Machicado

(2014)showthatfirmswithhightemporaryworkerrates(thatis,withlowerlabor

regulatedworkers)inBoliviaaretheoneswithhigherjobreallocationratesandhighernetemploymentgrowth.Moreover,theywerethesolecontributorstoemploymentgrowthduringthenationaleconomicdownturnbetween1998-1999.Similarly,

Davalosetal.

(2020)analyzeshowotherlaborregulations,like

2

pronouncedfocusoninformalityinBoliviawhenanalyzingthequalityofemploymenthasmadelessvisibleotherdimensionsofagoodjobsuchasworkingconditions,stabilityandthelinkagebetweenwagesandthejob

.3

ThispaperproposesaJobQualityIndex(JQI)thatencapsulateskeyelementsthatdefineagoodjob.Itbuildsontheliteratureonmeasuringthequalityofjobs,andalsoincor-poratescountry-specificconsiderationsrelatedtoBolivia’sregulatoryandinstitutionallabormarketcontext.WeemployaPrincipalComponentAnalysis(PCA)tofacilitatetheaggre-gationofvariouslabordimensionsintoacompositevalue,witheachcomponentrepresentingadistinctjobqualityaspect.Additionally,theusageofthePCAallowstoendogenouslyselectthejobdimensions’weightsandavoidanyarbitraryassignment.ThesedimensionsarederivedfromtheBolivianHouseholdSurvey,whichoffersextensiveinformationonworkers’laborconditions,includingcontracttypes,pensionenrollment,monthlywagesandotherrelevantfactors.Theanalysisutilizesdatafrom2007to2021toassesstheevolutionoftheselaborconditionsovertime,examiningtheeconomicboominBoliviaduringthepastdecadeaswellasthepandemiccrisis.

Wefindthatjobqualitymostlyremainedconstantduringtheanalysisperiod,hoveringaround0.46(inanindexbetween0and1,wherevaluescloserto1indicatehigherquality).Atthesametime,theindexhighlightshighvariationinthequalityofjobsacrossgroups.Forexample,menhavejobswithaquality28%betterthanthoseofwomen,representingagapthathasbeenpersistentovertime.Wealsofindthatworkersinmicroandsmallfirmshavejobswithaquality0.17pointsbelowthatofself-employedworkers(representingaquality42%lower).

Overall,theseresultssuggestthatBoliviafaceschallengesinincreasingjobqualityasevidencedbyarelativelysteadymeasureevenduringaneconomicboom.Inaddition,itshowsthedisparitiesthatexistandpersistamongdifferentgroups.Namely,women,workersinmicroandsmallfirmsandworkersinruralareasfacejobsoflowerqualitycomparedtotheirrespectivecounterparts.Policyimplicationsdevelopedfromtheseresultscouldaddressdimensionswithlowersatisfactorylevels,suchasaccesstosocialsecurity,andatthesametime,targetandextendcoverageondisadvantagedgroups.

Thispapercontributestothreestrandsoftheliterature.First,itexpandstheresearch

DobleAguinaldo,restrictSMEgrowthinBolivia.

3Forinstance,

Hovhannisyanetal.

(2022a

)summarizetheprincipaldimensionsthatoverlapacrossdifferentframeworksproposedbyinternationalpanelsofexpertsatthemacroandmicrolevels.

3

thathasaimedtomeasurejobquality.Toconstructourmeasure,wefollowtheapproachof

DelCarpioetal.

(2017),andcomplementitusingtetrachoriccorrelationmatricestoaccount

forthedichotomousnatureoftheindicatorsthatcomposethePCA.Furthermore,thisrepresentsthefirstjobqualitystudyusingaPCAinBoliviaandaddstopreviousliterature

thatusesdifferentmethodologies(Ya?nez

(2018),

Brummundetal.

(2018),

Hovhannisyan

etal.

(2022a

)).Assuch,wemeasurejobqualityfromthesupplysideofthelabormarket.Second,thispaperusesarichhouseholddatasettoassessthequalityofjobsacrosstimeandinacountrycharacterizedbystringentlabormarketregulationsandahighsegmentationbetweenformalandinformalsectors.Ourdataallowsustoassessthequalityofjobsfornon-wageworkersinadevelopingcountrycontext,contributingtoaliteraturethathas,inmanycases,beenrestrictedtodataavailabilityonlyforthesalariedcases(

Hovhannisyan

etal.

2022a

).Finally,ourtimeperiodallowsustoassesstheconsequencesofthepandemiconjobquality,contributingtotheliteratureontheeconomicimpactsoftheCOVID-19shock.

Assessingjobqualitywillprovidepolicymakerswithvaluableinsightsintothestateoflabormarkets,complementingtraditionalvariablessuchasparticipationorunemploymentratesthatmaymasklabormarketperformanceindevelopingcountrieswithsignificantinfor-malsectors.Firstly,itaidsinidentifyingworkerswhoexperiencepoorjobquality,takingintoaccountnotonlysociodemographiccharacteristicsbutalsoanalyzingtheeconomicsectorandemploymentstructure.Secondly,recognizingthatjobqualityholdswelfareimplica-

tionsforworkersandtheirfamilies(Clark

2005b

),thestudyidentifiesspecificdimensionsoflaborconditionsthatrequireimprovementtoenhanceoveralljobquality,consideringcommonfactorssuchassocialbenefits,wages,andcontracts,aswellasadditionalfactorslikeoverqualificationandchildlabor.Thirdly,itpresentsaneasilyreplicableandevaluativeapproachforassessinglaborconditionsacrossdifferentcontexts.Finally,evaluatinghowdif-ferenteconomicshocks,suchastheCOVID-19pandemic,affectlaborconditionsiscrucial,particularlyforinformalsectorworkersandthoseengagedinface-to-face(F2F)interactions.

Thispaperisorganizedasfollows:Section2reviewstherelevantliteratureinthisresearchdomain.Section3providesaconciseoverviewofthelaborregulationlandscape,whileSection4outlinesthemethodologyemployedforconstructingtheindex.InSection5wepresentthediversefindingsoftheconstructedJobQualityIndex(JQI),andfinally,Section6concludesthestudywithkeyinsightsandconclusions.

4

2Wheredowestand?Abriefreviewoftheliterature

Theliteratureonemploymentqualityhasevolvedsignificantlyinrecentdecades.Inthecaseofdevelopedcountries,

Jencksetal.

(1988)werethefirsttodevelopajobdesirabilityindex

fortheUnitedStates,whichconsideredbothmonetaryandnon-monetaryaspectsofjobs.Similarly,

Mu?nozdeBustilloetal.

(2011)comprehensivelyreviewdifferentperspectivesand

approachestoevaluatingworkers’wellbeingandjobquality,constructingajobqualityindexfortheEuropeanregion.Additionally,

OECD

(

2015

)introducedaJobQualityFrameworkthatconsidersearnings,labormarketsecurity,andthequalityoftheworkingenvironmentaskeydimensionsforjobevaluation.Furthermore,theInternationalLabourOrganization(ILO)presentedasetofstatisticalindicatorsrelatedtotheDecentWorkAgendain2008and2009.Theseindicatorsencompassfundamentaldimensionssuchaslaborstandards,rightsatwork,employmentopportunities,socialprotection,andsocialdialogue.Theseindicatorsallowforstudyingandmonitoringlabormarketsindevelopingcountries,includingtheirinformalsectors.However,jobqualitymeasurementindevelopingcountrieshasbeenmorelimitedduetodataavailabilityconstraints,whichhindertheconstructionandcomparisonofjobqualityindicesacrossdifferentcountries.

Inthecontextofdevelopingcountries,somestudieshaveutilizedthe

Alkire&Fos-

ter

(2011)frameworktomeasurejobquality.

Forexample,inthecaseofLatinAmerica,

Brummundetal.

(2018),

Senhbruchetal.

(2020),and

Apablazaetal.

(2021)proposemulti

-dimensionalmeasuresofjobqualitybasedonthismethod.

Brummundetal.

(

2018

)employtheSocio-EconomicDatabaseforLatinAmericaandtheCaribbean(SEDLAC)forasubsetof15countriesbetween1995and2012.Theauthorsuseincome,healthinsurance,retire-mentbenefits,tenure,jobcontract,jobstability,andjobsatisfactioncomponentstocreateacompositejobqualityindex.OneoftheirkeyfindingsisthatArgentina,Brazil,Chile,CostaRica,andUruguayexhibithigherjobquality,primarilyduetoalowershareoftheiremployedpopulationworkingintheagriculturesectorcomparedtoothercountries.Addi-tionally,theyfoundthattheaveragejobqualityintheregionincreasedbyapproximately25percentbetween2004and2012.

Ontheotherhand,

Senhbruchetal.

(2020)developedasyntheticindicatorofthe

qualityofemploymentfor10countriesinLatinAmericausinghouseholdandlaborforce

surveysfrom2015.4

Theauthorsselectthreedimensionsintheirstudy,eachoperationalized

4ThelistofcountriesincludesArgentina,Bolivia,Brazil,Chile,Colombia,Ecuador,Mexico,Paraguay,Peru,andUruguay.

5

byfivesub-dimensions(incomegeneratedbywork,occupationalstatus,tenure,socialse-curityaffiliation,andexcessiveworkinghours).Consistentwiththefindingsof

Brummund

etal.

(2018),theyobservethatChile,Uruguay,andBraziloutperformtheirregionalpeers

.Furthermore,theyidentifyagendergapinemploymentqualityacrossallcountriesintheirstudy,particularlyinthedimensionsofincomeandtenure.Similarly,

Apablazaetal.

(2021)

employasimilarmethodtoevaluateemploymentqualityacrossregionsinChilebetween1996and2017.Theirresultshighlighttheheterogeneityofjobqualityacrossthecountrybutalsoindicateaprocessofconvergencedrivenbyminimumwageregulationsandthestatutoryworkingweek.

Anothersetofstudieshasdevelopedjobqualityindicesusingalternativemethodolo-gies.Forexample,

DelCarpioetal.

(2017)examinethedynamicsofjobqualityinTurkey

between2009and2016.Theauthorsdefinevariouscomponentsrelatedtojobqualityandemploytheprincipalcomponentanalysis(PCA)methodtoaggregatethemintoacompos-iteindex.Theirfindingsrevealanimprovementinthequalityofwageemploymentattheaggregateleveloverthespecifiedperiod.Theseimprovementsarelargelyattributedtoashifttowardsmoreformalwagejobs.However,theauthorsalsoobserveawidedistributionofemploymentqualityacrossTurkey.

Closelyrelatedisastudyconductedby

Ya?nez

(

2018

),whichexaminestheevolutionofjobqualityinBoliviafrom2006to2015.TheauthoremploystheNationalHouseholdSurveysastheprimarydatasetandconstructsajobqualityindexusingthefuzzysetstheorydevelopedby

Zadeh

(1965).5

Theindexincorporatesvariablessuchaslaborincome,weekly

hoursworked,unemployment,numberofjobs,contractavailabilityandtenure.6

Thefindingsindicatethattheindexwitnessedamodestincreaseofapproximately0.7percentoverthedecade,whichislowerthananticipatedgiventhecommodityboomperiod.Consistentwithotherresearch,thestudyhighlightsthepresenceofagendergapinemploymentquality,aswellasawideningdisparityinjobqualitybetweenurbanandruralareas

.7

Themostrecentcontributiontotheliterature,

Hovhannisyanetal.

(

2022a

),aimsatmeasuringjobqualitywithaglobalview,usingaharmonizeddatasetfor40developingcountriesandacrossfourdimensions:sufficientincome,accesstoemploymentbenefits,jobstability,andadequateworkingconditions.EmployingtheAlkireandFosterframework,it

5TheFuzzySetstheoryhadbeentraditionallyusedtoconstructamultidimensionalpovertyindex.

Lelli

(2001)providesasolidreviewandcomparisonbetweenfactoranalysisandtheuseoffuzzysets

.

6Thesocialsecuritybenefitsandworkplacevariablesarealsoincludedascomponentsoftheindex.

7Wereplicatethemodelpresentedby

Ya?nez

(2018)usingtheBolivianhouseholdsurveys.Similarly,we

alsofindasteadinessofthejobqualityindexbasedonthefuzzysetstheory.

6

showssignificantvariationinjobqualityacrosscountriesandregionsandacrosspopulationgroupsdefinedbysectorofemploymentandsociodemographiccharacteristicssuchasage,location,andeducationalattainment.

3Context:Adescriptionofthelegalcontent

BeforedelvingintothedataandstatisticsusedtodefinetheJobQualityIndexforBolivia,itisimportanttoconsiderthelabormarketlawsandregulations,ashighlightedby

ILO

(2013).Eachindicatorusedforanalysishasalegaldimension,andintheBoliviancontext,

thereexistsacomplexanddiversesetoflawsthattypicallydefineajobofgoodquality.Followingtheexplanationprovidedby

Muriel&Ferrufino

(

2011

),themostcruciallaws

toconsiderforacomprehensiveanalysisareasfollows:Sectionthreeoftheconstitution8

recognizestherightofeveryindividualtoworkinajobthatoffersdignityandsecurity.ItalsostipulatesthateachBolivianhastherighttoastablejobwithfaircompensationandsocialsecurity,emphasizingtheobligationforemployerstoprovideaccesstothesebenefits.Moreover,thislawsafeguardstherightsofwomenandyoungpeople,ensuringthattheyare

entitledtoalllaborbenefits.Thelaborlaw9

istheprimarylegislationthatregulatesvariouslaboractivitiesandrelationships.Forinstance,itsfifthchapter,article52,establishesthateverycontractedemployeemustreceiveatleasttheminimumwage.Furthermore,thislawspecifiesthemaximumnumberofworkinghoursperweek,limitingitto48hoursformenand40hoursforwomenandyoungindividuals.

Additionally,

Muriel&Ferrufino

(2014)mentionseveralregulationsthatsupportthe

inclusionofcertainindicatorsconsideredinpreviousresearchpapersexaminingthejobqualitysituationinthelabormarket.TheseauthorscomplementthedescriptionoflaborregulationsinBoliviawiththefollowinglaws:1)Theminimumwagelegislation,whichisupdatedannuallythroughnewlaws.Forexample,theincreaseintheminimumwagein2014wasannouncedbythesupremedecreenumber1988.2)TheGeneralLaborLawregulateslaborstability,andthereinforcementofthisregulationwasannouncedin2006throughSupremeDecree28699.3)Laborbenefits,suchasbonusesandshort-termandlong-termsocialsecurity,areallcoveredintheGeneralLaborLawandhavebeencomplementedandupdatedbydifferentlaws.Forinstance,in2013,SupremeDecree1802confirmedthesecondChristmasbonus.4)Childlaborisregulatedbylawnumber548,whichestablishesthelegal

8Constituci′onPoliticadelEstado.

9LeyGeneraldelTrabajo.

7

agetostartworkingas10yearsold.Byconsideringtheselaborlawsandregulations,amorecomprehensiveunderstandingoftheJobQualityIndexcanbeachieved,consideringthelegalframeworkthatdefinesthecharacteristicsofgood-qualityjobsinBolivia.

4Dataandmethodology

4.1DataandcomponentsoftheJQI

ThemaindatausedinthispaperarederivedfromtheNationalHouseholdSurvey,spanningfrom2005to2021andcollectedbytheNationalStatisticsOffice.TheNationalHouseholdSurveyistheprimarysurveyinthecountryformeasuringpoverty,employingaprobabilisticsamplingprocedure.Since2011,thesurveyhasbeenrepresentativeatbothnationaland

regionallevels.10

Toensurecomparabilityacrosstheyears,wecreatedtheJobQualityIndexstartingin2007,whichcoincideswiththecommodityboominBolivia.Thisperiodwitnessedhigheconomicgrowthuntil2014,followedbyslowergrowth.

Toconstructthejobqualityindex,weonlyconsiderobservationsfromindividualsemployedatthetimeofthesurveyandwhoreportedthevariablesrequiredforcreatingthedifferentdimensionsoftheindex.Thesamplecomprisedapproximately6,800individ-ualsbetween2007and2009andaround15,500individualssince2011.Table

1

comparesdemographicvariablesfortheemployedpopulationbetweenthecompletesamplefromtheNationalHouseholdSurveyandthesampleusedinourstudy.Thepatternsofevolutionfordifferentcharacteristicsareroughlysimilarbetweenbothsamples,indicatingthatthesampleusedinthispaperadequatelycapturestheobservedchangesinthelabormarket.

10ForthecaseofthedepartmentsofBeniandPando,itisnecessarytoincludebothregionstogetherinordertoobtainrepresentativestatistics.

Table1:Shareofworkersbydemographicgroups(%ofemployedpopulation,age15-64)

8

Agriculture

FullSampleSampleinthisstudyFemaleLow-skilledInformalAgricultureFemaleLow-skilledInformal

workersworkersworkersworkers

2007

44.7

61.8

77.5

30.6

44.7

61.7

77.4

30.6

2008

45.3

60.8

79.0

29.0

45.2

60.9

79.0

28.9

2009

44.9

58.7

78.1

27.7

44.9

58.7

78.0

27.5

2011

44.2

56.9

77.6

28.0

44.2

56.9

77.6

28.0

2012

44.1

54.2

76.5

25.8

44.1

54.3

76.5

25.8

2013

44.3

48.8

72.4

25.9

44.2

48.9

72.5

25.9

2014

44.0

49.7

77.4

28.3

44.0

49.7

77.4

28.3

2015

41.5

46.3

77.0

25.0

41.6

46.3

77.1

25.2

2016

44.1

53.6

78.1

26.4

44.2

53.7

78.1

26.3

2017

43.1

50.9

78.0

24.6

43.0

51.1

78.2

24.8

2018

43.0

50.3

76.4

25.9

43.0

50.2

76.3

25.7

2019

44.2

48.3

76.5

25.6

44.2

48.4

76.6

25.6

2020

43.7

46.6

-

26.4

43.7

46.6

-

26.2

2021

42.5

44.7

-

22.4

42.5

44.7

-

22.4

Notes:BasedondatafromEH2007-2021.Wedefinelow-skilledworkersforpeoplewithincompletesecondaryeducationorbelowandinformalityforemployeeswithsomekindofwrittencontractandemploy-ers,self-employedwithaTaxIdentificationNumber(TIN).

Table

2

providessummarystatisticsthatofferanoverviewofthelabormarketinBoliviaovertheyears.Thefirsttworowsindicatethattheaggregateparticipationandemploymentrateshaveremainedrelativelystableoverthepastdecade.However,Row(3)revealsa10-percentagepointincreaseintheshareofthepopulationaged15to64yearsoldwhowereself-employedbetween2007and2021.Moreover,thelaborincomeofthispopulationceasedtoincreasein2014,followingthenationalaveragetrend.Thisslumpinincomedisproportionatelyaffectedthistypeofworkersaslaborersandemployeesdidnotsufferasignificantincomecontraction(

Davalosetal.

2020

).Inthissense,itmaybeimportanttodistinguishbetweenentrepreneurs(growth-orientedbusinessowners)andself-employedindividualsdrivenbynecessitytocharacterizethedynamicsoftheBolivianlabormarketfully.

9

Table2:Characteristicsofworkersinemploymentandlaborincome(nationallevel,age

15-64)

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

2020

2021

ActivityRate

73

74

74

72

69

70

74

74

72

Employmentrate

69

72

72

70

67

68

70

68

69

Self-employedworkers(%)

34

34

35

37

41

42

42

44

44

WorkersinMSE(%)

33

30

30

26

25

26

27

28

25

Workersinpublicfirms(%)

26

25

26

30

25

26

25

27

-

Realaveragemonthlyincome

1,489

1,559

1,672

2,228

2215

2,105

2,124

2,113

2,070

Realaveragemonthlyincome(forself-employed)

1,176

1,365

1,658

1,730

1923

1,644

1,686

1,735

1,490

Notes:BasedondatafromEH2007-2021.Wedefineworkersinmicroandsmallenterprises(MSE)forpeoplewhoareemployedinafirmwithlessthanfiveemployees,domesticworkersandunpaidworkers.Averageincomeisin2010prices.

Inconstructingtheindex,werelyonthemethodologyproposedby

DelCarpioetal.

(2017)

.Duetodataavailabilityandtheneedforcomparabilityacrosstime,weincludeareducednumberofcomponentsinourstudy.Furthermore,giventhespecificfocusontheBolivianlabormarket,ourindexisdesignedtoassessjobqualitynotonlyforworkersreceivingwages,butalsoforthoseengagedinnon-wageemployment,whoaccountforover40percentoftheoccupiedlaborforce.Thestudycoversindividualsaged15to64.

TheJobQualityIndex(JQI)comprisesfourdimensionsthatoperatethroughsevencomponents.EachdimensionandcomponentcanbeusedindependentlytoassessindividualprogresstowardjobqualityinBolivia.Table

3

presentsthedimensionsandcomponentsusedtomeasurejobquality.ThefourdimensionsoftheJQIare:i)Benefitsandprotectionunderlaborlaw,ii)job-wagelinkage,iii)careeradvancementandgrowth,andiv)levelofproductivity.Thesedimensions,asbrieflyexplainedearlier,havealegalfoundation.Columns(1)to(4)outlinethedifferentcomponentsanddescribethecriteriaforevaluatingagoodjob.

SocialSecurityBenefits:Wedefineaproxybinaryvariableforsocialsecurityben-

efitsequaltooneiftheworkerstatedbeingregisteredtothePensionFundAdministration11

(AFP)atthemomentofthesurvey,eveniftheworkerwasnotcontributingatthattimeto