THE JOB QUALITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: A ROAD MAP TO A NEW DEVELOPMENT MODEL

This study explores the job quality as a pivotal issue in the 21st century, and, at the same time, assigns it a key role in fostering social development and sustainability. The main approach of this paper is a qualitative one, although the author mainly refers to data from international organizations. The author is currently working on these issues, both in terms of the development theory and in terms of empirical studies. This study focuses on two issues, namely working conditions and the greening of work, both of which are going to impact the evolution of the job quality in the 21st century. The first issue relates to working conditions, as there is a compelling need to improve the quality of employment both in advanced and developing countries. The second issue focuses on the transition towards the green economy, the only possibility to relaunch development and to guarantee the environmental survival. This transition requires, at the same time, the production and the employment sectors to undergo a reconversion process. This study is structured as follows. The first paragraph investigates the current working conditions and outlines some measures needed to improve the job quality; the second paragraph analyzes the job quality from the perspective of the greening economy. In the first paragraph our analysis highlights that the measures needed to improve the working conditions lie in tackling unemployment in advanced and emerging countries and in promoting decent work for all. Although progress has been made in some cases, in many countries working conditions are still characterized by high levels of informality, working poverty and vulnerable employment. Making progress in these fields means upgrading the economic and social capabilities of workers and improving social protection institutions. While investigating the difficulty of assigning a clear definition to the term “Green Job” (GB), this paragraph also shifts the research focus to those economic fields that fall into the area of interest of the Green Economy. The Green Economy can offer new development opportunities to advanced as well as emerging countries. Planning employment policies is a key strategy that facilitates development and investments within the Green Economy; indeed, the workforce employed in this sector needs to acquire specific job competencies that will further boost its growth.