The Establishment and Application of a Labor Quality Index: The Case of Taiwan's Manufacturing Industry

The labor quality index (LQI) not only serves as an important reference for monitoring the progress of the sustainable development of a country, but it can also serve as an important parameter for economic analysis. To compile such an index for Taiwan, we conducted two large-scale surveys of 1000 ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social indicators research 2006-10, Vol.79 (1), p.61-96
Main Authors: San, Gee, Huang, Tung-Chun, Huang, Li-Hsuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Earnings
Economic analysis
Economic growth
Economic Progress
Economic Research
Education
Educational Attainment
Foreign Countries
Growth models
Human capital
Human resources
Indicators
Industry
Item Analysis
Labor
Labor disputes
Labor Force
Labor force surveys
Labor union leadership
Labour force
Longitudinal studies
Manufacturing
Manufacturing Industries
Manufacturing Industry
National Standards
Occupational Qualifications
Occupational Surveys
Outcomes of Education
Production functions
Productivity
Qualifications
Quality
Quality Control
Rating Scales
Research Methodology
Social research
Sociology
Sociology of law and criminology
Sociology of law and justice
Sustainable Development
Taiwan
Trade unions
Vocational education
Work ethic
Workers
Workforce
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Summary:The labor quality index (LQI) not only serves as an important reference for monitoring the progress of the sustainable development of a country, but it can also serve as an important parameter for economic analysis. To compile such an index for Taiwan, we conducted two large-scale surveys of 1000 major enterprises and 844 union leaders, respectively, to determine the appropriate weights for each key factor. We also searched for all the relevant statistics that were used to calculate the weighted sum of the 25 sub-indexes, in order to compile a LQI for Taiwan's manufacturing industries covering the period from 1990-2000. Our calculations show that this LQI rose from 80.2 in 1990 to 117.5 in 2000, which reflected an impressive 37.3% increase in just one decade. This rate of growth has, however, been slowing down since 1997. Our results indicate that the LQI provides a valuable indicator for monitoring the enhancement of labor quality in this society.
ISSN:0303-8300
1573-0921
DOI:10.1007/s11205-005-0210-1