Low-Wage Work in the Netherlands

Chapter 4: The Position, Design, and Methodology of the Industry Studies

CHAPTER 4 The Position, Design, and Methodology of the Industry Studies Maarten van Klaveren This chapter aims to provide the bridge between the first three chapters, which were focused on the national level, and the next five chapters, which concentrate on the target industries and subsectors at the meso level and the case study establishments at the micro level. The research targets five industries and specific target occupations within each one: • The retail trade, divided into the subsectors of supermarkets and consumer electronics retail, with the target occupations of checkout operators and sales clerks, respectively • Hotels, with the target occupation of room attendants • Hospitals, with the target occupations of nursing assistants, nutrition assistants, and cleaners • Call centers with a focus on the finance sector and utilities, distinguishing between independent and in-house centers, with the target occupation of call center agents or operators • Food processing, divided into the subsectors of meat processing and confectionary, with the target occupation of production workers I begin by situating the target industries and subsectors in the economy and in employment. Then I consider the incidence of low pay in the industries and subsectors and relate this to a number of potentially influencing factors. In the next section, I discuss the levels and yardsticks that will serve to make firm strategies operational, focusing on the distinction between high-road and low-road strategies . Finally, the chapter provides an overview of the research design and methodology used in the industry studies and the case studies. 132 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE TARGET INDUSTRIES Industrialization started rather late in the Netherlands, and from an international perspective the share of manufacturing in employment remained rather low, reaching its peak between 1947 and 1960. By 1975 employment in commercial services exceeded that in manufacturing , excluding construction (table 4.1). Deindustrialization took off after 1975. Between 1975 and 1990, male employment in manufacturing fell by ten percentage points, and at the same time female employment increased by twenty-five percentage points, mainly in services and part-time employment. In 2004 the employment share of manufacturing among employees had fallen to 12 percent, commercial services stabilized at about 47 percent, and other services (government and other noncommercial), which had oscillated around 30 percent over the last three decades, accounted for 34 percent . Seven percent was left for agriculture, fishing, mining, and construction . The table shows the employment figures of our target industries and subsectors, at the NACE four-digit level (but five-digit for the food-processing subsectors). In fact, the food-processing subsector is even smaller (10,000) than the table suggests (27,400), since meat processing is analyzed here without slaughtering and poultry processing and confectionary in our study does not include cocoa processing. The figures concerning call centers typically cannot be based on official statistics. We were able to use recent Statistics Netherlands microdata that specified call center employment. These data applied to independent call centers, however, not to in-house call centers, which cover about 80 percent of call center employment. For the size of that employment we have to rely mainly on market research sources. The last row of the table indicates that the combined share of the target industries increased more than fourfold over the half-century, from 2.4 percent in 1947 to 10.7 percent of all employees in 2004. Yet it remains of limited importance. Only one of the target industries is a classic manufacturing industry : food processing. Although a stronghold of Dutch manufacturing, its significance is diminishing, as is true of manufacturing production occupations in general. After having grown until 1975, employment in slaughtering and meat processing decreased both in absolute numbers and relative to total employment. The same happened after 1960 with cocoa, chocolate, and confectionary manufacturing. By Position, Design, and Methodology 133 contrast, the share of employees in retail has doubled since 1947, but this mainly reflects the decline of self-employed and cooperating family members. Changes in retail have been substantial. In 1947 supermarkets were still unknown, but by 2004 they employed nearly 3 percent of all employees. Wage employment in consumer electronics retail grew noticeably in the 1980s and 1990s. In these years the hospitality industry also expanded rapidly, although this growth was again marked by the declining numbers of self-employed and cooperating family members. The hotel subsector came along in this ex134 Low-Wage Work in the Netherlands Table 4.1 Employees...