Productividad laboral y calidad del empleo en los departamentos de Colombia durante 2008-2016

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to estimate the effect of labor productivity on the quality of employment in Colombia. For this, an index was constructed; it quantifies the quality of employment, as a latent multidimensional variable, during the period 2008-2016 in twenty three departments of Colombia and in Bogota. Later, econometric techniques of panel data were used to estimate the aforementioned effect. The index was constructed with data from DANE's Large Integrated Household Survey (GEIH) according to the dimensions proposed by Quiñones (2011) and Pineda & Acosta (2011), which were weighted using Principal Component Analysis (ACP) according to observations of the OECD (2008). The differential value of the present study is that: i) a relatively simple and efficient methodis provided to measure the quality of employment, ii) a weighted and standardized indicator is provided without assuming probabilistic assumptions or distributions, iii) a panel that allows a more in-depth study of the characteristics of employment, its determinants and its relation to labor productivity, and iv) the index can be broken down into seven sub-indices referring to the dimensions of employment quality, such as gender equity, health and social security, inclusion in the labor market, social dialogue, job stability, compatibility of working hours with personal life, and income from work. Among the results we can highlight that: i) there is a growing trend in the quality of employment, ii) there is a marked inequality between the center and the periphery of the country, iii) some departments with lower quality of employment have higher rates of growth of this variable, iv) there are indications to argue the existence of convergence between the departments, v) if the growth of the employment quality rate is maintained, departments like Norte de Santander would take 35 years to reach the levels presented by Bogotá in 2016, (vi) labor productivity positively affects the quality of employment, although the relationship between them is inelastic, (vii) there is a gap between productivity growth and employment quality, and (viii) is presented an analysis of the importance of employment in the post-conflict scenario.