European Working Conditions Survey

Summary

The main objective of the European Working Conditions Survey is to provide comparable information on the conditions of work and employment of employed persons in different EU countries. It is not aimed at studying the situation in each country in depth. The small sample size for some countries might represent a limitation while conducting detailed analysis. The number of questions and issues covered in the EWCS has expanded over time, but a core of questions have remained unchanged across the different waves, allowing for a comparative study of the changes in working conditions and their effects. Therefore, this represents a useful complement for the European Quality of Life Survey by providing insights on the observed, but also on the perceived working conditions (such as perceived job insecurity or level of satisfaction of work-life balance) of the employed population at different ages.

Type of data

Data Source
Survey

Type of Study
Survey different

Data gathering method
Face-to-face

Access to data

Conditions of access
The data is for download on the UK Data Service website

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
microdata

Formats available
STATA and SPSS.

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
Wave 1: data collected in 1990/91, sample size of 12,500, which included Belgium, Denmark, Germany (East and West), Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The target sample size was 500 for each country with the exceptions for Germany (1,000, 500 for East Germany, 500 for West Germany) and Luxembourg (250). Wave 2: data collected in 1995/6, sample size of 15,800, which included all of the countries from the first wave, plus Austria, Finland and Sweden. The target sample size was 1,000 for each country with the exceptions of Germany (2,000, 1,000 for East Germany and 1,000 for West Germany) and Luxembourg (500). Wave 3: data collected in 2000, sample size of 21,500, which included all the countries from wave 2. The target sample size was 1,500 from each country, except for Luxembourg (500). Data collected in 2001 was from all candidate countries with a sample size of 11,500. This included Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta and Turkey (2002). The target sample size was 1,000 for each country with the exceptions of Malta and Cyprus (500). Wave 4: data collected in 2005, sample size of 29,680, which included all of the countries from wave 3 and Croatia, Norway and Switzerland. The target sample size was 1,000 for each country with exceptions for Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia (600). Wave 5: data collected in 2010, sample size of 43,816, which included all of the countries from wave 4, as well as Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro. The target sample size was 1,000 with exceptions for Germany and Turkey (2,000), Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom (1,500), Belgium (4,000), France (3,000), and Slovenia (1,400).

First year of collection
1990

Stratification if applicable
Based on region and degree of urbanisation

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
For regional breakdown, NUTS II was used in all of the waves. Wave 5: The sample did not cover the French overseas departments (FR), the Canaries (ES) and the Arctic Spitsbergen (NO), but covered the islands of Madeira (PT), Azores (PT) and Baleares (ES).

Age range
Waves 1-4: 15 and older; Wave 5: 15 and older with the exception of Spain, the United Kingdom and Norway (16 and older, complying with Labour Force Survey universe definition) whose usual place of residence is in the territory of the countries included in the survey and who were in employment during the reference period.

Statistical representativeness
Special group, please specify

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
The aim of the survey is to provide a general idea about the working conditions in Europe. The information collected reflects workers’ perspectives, the characteristics of the companies they work in, and the households in which they live. It does provide a reliable comparison of European countries; however, it is not meant to be a detailed study on the specific working conditions in a particular country. Regarding public attitudes towards old age, the European Working Conditions Survey considered the possibility of remaining active at the age of 60. Based on the survey’s structure, it is possible to analyse this trend by individual (e.g. educational attainment, age-group) and economic characteristics of the surveyed.

Linkage

Standardisation
In all waves, ISCO88, ISCO08 and NACE codes were used to code occupations and sector activity, respectively. ISCED was used to classify educational attainment during waves 4 and 5.

Possibility of linkage among databases

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable

Breaks
For waves 1-3, the INRA (International Research Associates) of Brussels was commissioned to carry out all of the fieldwork. For waves 4 and 5, Gallup Europe was commissioned to do the fieldwork.

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection
In all waves, ISCO and NACE coding were used to code occupation and sector activity. During the 4th and 5th wave, the ISCED coding for education was taken up.

Governance

Contact information

European Foundation for the Improvement of the Living & Working Conditions (Eurofound)
Wyattville Rd.
Dublin 18 Loughlingstown Ireland Phone: (+353 1) 204-31-00
Email: information(at)eurofound.europa.eu
Url: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/surveys/index.htm

Timeliness, transparency
Wave 1 (1991): Data collected between March and April 1991 and the report was released in February 1993. Wave 2 (1996): Data collected between November 1995 and January 1996 and the report was released September 2000. Wave 3 (2000/2001): Data collected from the European Union member states from March to April 2000 and the first report was released in October 2001. The data for the 2001 report of the candidate countries was collected from May to June 2001 and then data was collected in Turkey in 2002. This report was released in October 2003. Wave 4 (2005): Data collected between September and November 2005 and the report was released in February 2007. Wave 5 (2010): Data collected between January and June 2010 and the report was released in April 2012. Survey datasets are made available no later than two years after fieldwork completion.