Is labour
“better off”? To answer such a question one needs an index of labour market well-being that is capable of measuring the
well-being that individuals in a given society at a given point in time can
obtain through the labour market. This paper
therefore focuses on the well-being of individuals as workers. The proposed
Index of Labour Market Well Being (ILMW) covers all
persons of working age and is based on: 1) the average current return from
work; 2) the aggregate accumulation of human capital, which enables future
returns from work; 3) inequality in current returns from work; and 4)
insecurity in the anticipation of future returns from work. Estimates of the
proposed Index are developed for 16 OECD countries for the 1980-2001 period, and
comparisons are made both for changes in labour
market well-being over time in each country and for differences in labour market well-being across countries. Of the 16
countries considered, in 2001 the highest level of labour
market well-being was in