The application of the conceptual framework on

key dimensions in industrial relations to

European social dialogue and national industrial

relations

Maria Caprile , NOTUS (ES),

Christian Welz, Ricardo Rodriguez, Eurofound

Advisory Committee Meeting for Industrial relations 4.10.2017

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Background and objectives

Dashboard

Mapping national IR systems

Moving forward

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Background and objectives1

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Follow-up of previous work Mapping key dimensions of

industrial relations (Eurofound, 2016): conceptual framework

and preselected indicators

Objectives

• Further fine-tune the set of indicators

• Assess how and to what extent the conceptual framework on

key dimensions of industrial relations can be applied to the

national level (CAR)

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Dashboard

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• Dashboard of 45 indicators

• European and international data sources (Eurofound, Eurostat,

ILO, OECD, WEF, ICTWSS and Transparency International)

• Database with annual data for the period 2008-2015

• Strict conceptual and statistical criteria

• Results are found reasonably accurate by a large majority of

national correspondents

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• key conceptual criteria have been intelligibility and easy

interpretation

assess whether an indicator is sufficiently simple to be

unambiguously interpreted in practice and intuitive in the sense

that it is obvious what it is measuring. Indicators should have a

clear meaning with respect to industrial relations, either “positive”

or “negative”

• allows indicators to be aggregated in terms of subdimensions,

dimensions and industrial relations systems

• aggregation has been used as an analytical tool to select and test the

most relevant indicators - although results are far from being final

results in the process of computing a composite indicator

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Mapping national IR systems

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• The application of the conceptual framework shows substantial

differences across countries

• Results are relatively consistent with the typology of industrial relations

regimes developed by Visser (2009) - specificities for some countries

• Results in the dimensions of Social Justice and Industrial

Competitiveness are broadly in line with other indices (Global

Competitiveness Index, WEF; EU Social Justice Index, Bertelsmann

Stiftung)

• Divergent evolving trends across countries and, to some extent, within

the different industrial relations clusters – limitations for the availability

of time series

• In a context of growing debates on the impact of the crisis on the

industrial relations in Europe, further cross-country analysis is needed –

helping to refresh and improve existing IR typologies

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• Standardised and aggregated results obtained for each dimension,

including the EU average as a reference

• Useful tool for mapping the national industrial system against the

four dimensions, namely regarding the extent to which the

industrial system is encompassing the four dimensions in a

balanced way

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• study has tested the application of the conceptual framework

elaborated by Eurofound for the analysis of the national IR

systems

• the CAR shows the consistency of this framework and relative

agreement among experts

• the dashboard and the preliminary aggregation results have

proven reasonable accuracy to map the predominant features and

trends of the national industrial relations system

• Yet, it has to be considered as a provisional exercise, which needs

further discussion and fine-tuning

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Moving forward

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• Complexity of gathering a comprehensive picture of an

IR system through the four dimensions

• Difficulties of relating the IR actors and processes to

the outcomes of dimensions which are also affected by

other complex and varied factors (industrial

competitiveness, social justice and job and

employment quality)

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• Improve the current dashboard – critical review of the

set of indicators

• Replace indicators in some of the dimensions or sub-

dimensions by another set of indicators or composite

indicators which have already been built by other

institutions – (industrial competitiveness, job and

employment quality or social justice)

• Develop a composite indicator (for key dimensions and

IR system)

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• Critical review of the indicators

• are there important gaps?

• any conceptually problematic indicators?

• any relevant source not included?

• Pros and cons of using other indices for some dimensions

• Should Eurofound concentrate on industrial democracy?

• Pros and cons of a dashboard / composite indices

Preliminary aggregation results have been useful for

selecting indicators and mapping

• Should Eurofound build composite indices?

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