Job Quality in Small Businesses: Electrical and Electronic Engineering Firms in Dorset

Studies of employment change have reported with varying emphasis, the superior job-generation performance of small compared with large firms. One deficiency in this area of research, however, is on the attributes of jobs in small firms and this has led to much speculation. Therefore, evidence is examined from a survey of 106 independent electrical and electronic engineering firms in Dorset (Class 33 and 34, 1980 Standard Industrial Classification). The job characteristics investigated include: their skill and gender composition; the full-time and part-time status of staff; the stability of the jobs they provide; their type of wage payment; and the incidence of training provision. A labour-market-segmentation framework is used to emphasise the importance of products, processes, and markets and to displace the notion of size as the prime causal factor in job quality. The central theme is that any stereotypical view of employment conditions in small businesses is misconceived.