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New Organizational Practices and Working Conditions: Evidence from France in the 1990’s*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Philippe Askenazy ,
Eve Caroli  and
Vincent Marcus
Philippe Askenazy
Affiliation:
CNRS and CEPREMAP
Eve Caroli
Affiliation:
INRA-LEA and CEPREMAP
Vincent Marcus
Affiliation:
Ecole Normale Supérieure
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Summary

We investigate the impact of innovative work practices on working conditions. We use a unique French dataset providing information on individual workers for year 1998. New work practices which play a key role in the success of the new economy, include job rotation and the use of quality norms. Working conditions are captured by occupational injuries as well as indicators of mental strain. Using Rubin’s causal model, we show that, even after controlling for employee and job characteristics and correcting for sample selection bias, workers involved in the new work practices still face working conditions that are significantly worse than those of non innovative workers.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article examine l’impact des méthodes de travail innovantes sur les conditions de travail. Nous utilisons un échantillon unique de données française fournissant des informations sur les travailleurs individuels pour l’année 1998. Les nouvelles méthodes de travail qui jouent un rôle dans le succès de la nouvelle économie incluent la rotation des emplois et l’utilisation des normes de qualité. Les conditions de travail sont appréhendées par les accidents du travail ainsi que par des indicateurs de stress. En utilisant le modèle causal de Rubin, nous montrons que, même dans le cas où nous tenons compte des caractéristiques de l’employé et du poste de travail et où nous corrigeons le biais de sélection d’échantillonnage, les travailleurs pratiquent les nouvelles méthodes de travail subissent des conditions de travail significativement plus mauvaises que les autres.

Keywords

new work practicestechnologyoccupational injuriesworking conditionsJ28L23Nouvelles méthodes de travailTechnologieAccidents du travailConditions de travailJ28L23
Type
II. Labor Economics and Human Capital Investments
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 68 , Special Issue 1-2: The New Economy: Implications and Viability , 2002 , pp. 91 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 2002 

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Footnotes

*

This research has been funded by a grant from the French Ministry of Research. We are indebted to Bénédicte Reynaud and Muriel Roger for most valuable discussions. An anonymous referee, the editors, Thomas Coutrot, Sylvie Hamon-Cholet as well as participants to the French-German seminar on “Labour” in Berlin (January 2001), the REL conference in Metz on ‘The New Economy: Implications and Viability” (april 2001) and the seminar on “Labour Intensification” at Centre d’Etude de l’Emploi also provided useful remarks and suggestions. All remaining errors are our own.

**

CEPREMAP, 48 Bd Jourdan-75014 Paris-France. Tel: 33 1 43136251.

***

Email : philippe.askenazy@cepremap.cnrs.fr and Eve.Caroli@ens.fr

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