Who receives occupational welfare? The importance of skills across Europe’s diverse industrial relations regimes

Abstract

This study investigates the association between eligibility for occupational welfare and employees’ skill levels. In particular, building on Visser’s classification, we explore (i) the extent to which this relationship is moderated by industrial relations regimes and (ii) whether the moderating effect of industrial relations regimes has changed over time. Analyses draw on the latest three waves (2005, 2010, 2015) of the European Working Conditions Survey, and consider a nationally representative sample (N = 64,122) of employees in 30 European countries (the then 28 EU Member States plus Norway and Turkey). Findings indicate a significant, persistent, skill-biased disparity in access to occupational welfare in any industrial relations regime, with the only exception of the organised corporatism regime (that is, the Nordic countries).