Eurofound, The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions

Working life unit

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31/03/2024

31/03/2024

The aim of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) is to provide an overview of the state of working conditions in the EU, to identify major issues and changes affecting the workplace and to contribute to a better monitoring of the quality of work and employment in Europe. The number of questions and issues covered in the EWCS has expanded in each subsequent survey, but a core set of key questions has remained unchanged in order to enable the study of trends in working conditions.

The questionnaire covers several aspects of working conditions, including physical environment, workplace design, working hours, work organisation, well-being, and social/colleague relationships in the workplace. It includes the following topics:

• physical and psychosocial risk factors;
• working time: duration, organisation, predictability and flexibility; work–life balance;
• place of work;
• speed of work, pace determinants;
• employee participation, human resource policies and work organisation (such as task rotation); employee representation;
• skills use, cognitive dimensions of work, decision-making authority, and learning in work;
• employment conditions: job security and insecurity;
• social relations at work: support, trust, cooperation, discrimination, violence;
• gender issues: segregation, household composition, unpaid work, extent of women in supervisory positions;
• well-being and health, earnings and financial security.

In 2020, Eurofound began data collection for the 2020 edition of the EWCS but had to terminate in-person interviews after seven weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Eurofound conducted the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (extraordinary edition). Three indicators in EIGE’s Gender Statistics Database present data from the 2021 EWCTS:

• Over the last month, during the course of your work have you been subjected to unwanted sexual attention? (% of respondents, 15+ workers)
• Over the last month, during the course of your work have you been subjected to bullying, harassment, or violence? (% of respondents, 16+ workers)
• Over the last month, during the course of your work have you been subjected to verbal abuse or threats? (% of respondents, 16+ workers)

Further information about both surveys, including downloadable reports and other publications can also be found on EWCS webpages.

Unless stated otherwise, the indicators are expressed as percentages within (or share of) the population and breakdowns are given by sex and sometimes also other respondent characteristics.

The EWCS results are produced in accordance with the relevant international classification systems. The International standard classification of education (ISCED) is used to measure the educational attainment level.

The International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) is used to code data on occupation. To take into account revision of the ISCO classification, data on occupation are coded both in ISCO‐88 and ISCO‐08.

The Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community is used to code data on economic activity. To take into account the revision of the NACE categories data are coded both in NACE rev 1.1 and NACE Rev. 2.

For more details on the classification, please consult: Eurostat-Metadata (ISCED)

The EWCS covers all economic sectors.

Most of the indicators are expressed as percentages within (or share of) the population that chose a particular answer to each question. The breakdowns are given by sex and sometimes other respondent characteristics. Most of the concepts and definitions are straightforward and are clear from the name of the variable (that corresponds to a specific question in the EWCS).

Other concepts and definitions used (such as main job, employment sector, occupation, etc.) are standard and can be found in EU LFS.

The data refers to the percentage of respondents.

EWCS: All persons aged 15 and over (16 and over in Spain, the UK and Norway, due to the minimum legal working age being higher in these countries) 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.

EWCTS 2021 (extraordinary edition): All residents of the countries mentioned above aged 16 or older and in employment at the time of the survey. People were considered to be in employment if they had worked for pay or profit for at least an hour in the week preceding the interview (ILO definition).

EWCS: The dataset covers the 28 EU Member States and seven further European countries – Norway, Switzerland, Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

EWCTS 2021 (extraordinary edition): 27 EU Member States, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The coverage of the EWCS over the years reflects the evolution of the EU, as more states have joined over time.

• 1991: EU12;
• 1995: EU15;
• 2000-2001: EU27, Norway and Turkey;
• 2005: EU27, Croatia, Turkey, Switzerland and Norway;
• 2010: EU28, Norway, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Turkey Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro;
• 2015: 28 EU Member States, Norway, Switzerland, Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.
• 2021 (EWCTS): 27 EU Member States, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom

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No legal acts are applicable.

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EWCS microdata do not contain any administrative information such as names or addresses that would allow direct identification. Anonymity is preserved in the aggregate data.

The EWCS has been conducted every five years since 1990. Survey datasets are made available no later than two years after fieldwork completion.

The EWCTS is an extraordinary edition of the survey that was conducted only in 2021.

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It is Eurofound policy to make the questionnaires and datasets freely available to the public. Questionnaires are made available upon completion of the survey fieldwork. Survey datasets are made available no later than two years after fieldwork completion. Links to the questionnaires for earlier editions of the survey can be found on the pages for the specific survey waves: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/about-eurofound-surveys/data-availability

The Eurofound datasets and accompanying materials are stored with the UK Data Service in Essex, UK and promoted online via their website. For access please see http://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/.

No regular news release.

There are no regular publications based on the EWCS. The list of existing publications can be found at Eurofound’s website: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications

The sixth European Working Conditions Survey – Overview report was published on 17 November 2016 and is available at Eurofound’s website: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2016/working-conditions/sixth-european-working-conditions-survey-overview-report

Publications based on the 2021 European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (extraordinary edition) can be found here: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/european-working-conditions-telephone-survey-2021

Data is available online via Eurofound’s data explorer: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/data

The Eurofound datasets and accompanying materials are stored with the UK Data Service in Essex, UK and promoted online via their website. For access please see http://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/

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Details on the methodology for the latest EWCS can be found here: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/european-working-conditions-surveys/sixth-european-working-conditions-survey-2015/ewcs-2015-methodology

Details on the methodology for the EWCTS 2021 can be found here: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/surveys/european-working-conditions-surveys/ewcs-2015/ewcs-2015-methodology

Details on the quality assurance process for the latest EWCS can be found here: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/surveys/european-working-conditions-surveys/ewcs-2015/ewcs-2015-methodology#quality-assurance

Details on the quality assurance process for the EWCTS 2021 can be found here: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/surveys/european-working-conditions-surveys/ewcts-2021/ewcts-2021-methodology#quality-assurance

A unified quality assurance system was developed in an effort to provide comparable and reliable data on working conditions across Europe. Each stage of the survey was carefully planned, closely monitored and documented, and specific controls were put in place building on recommendations outlined in the Quality assurance report of the fifth EWCS, the External quality assessment report of the fifth EWCS, as well as Eurofound’s experiences with previous waves of the EWCS and other surveys. Quality control mechanisms were applied to ensure quality in terms of relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, and coherence and comparability.

Each stage of the EWCS was documented in detail in order to promote transparency and to be able to draw lessons for future reference.

Eurofound contracted an independent third party to assess the survey quality in relation to comparable surveys and international standards, such as the quality criteria outlined in the European Statistical System, and to provide suggestions for improvement of future waves of the EWCS. The External data quality assessment concludes that the quality of the sixth EWCS is very high, compared to similar surveys and complies with international quality standards.

A similar report has not been identified for the EWCTS 2021 (extraordinary edition).

• The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions is one of the first Community institutions established and its stakeholders (represented in the administrative board) include employers, EU policy makers, Governments, and trade unions. The main function of the Foundation is to provide with information and knowledge that assists policy makers and social partners in social dialogue and policy making.
• International organisations (ILO, OECD, etc). International organisations are using EWCS data in combination with data from other regions into studies, assessments and data products with a wider geographical coverage.
• European organisations (Eurostat, European Agency for Health and Safety at Work, European Parliament other European bodies). EWCS output (data and publications) are being used in a number of policy documents (evidence is collected by the Foundation).
• National Governments. There is evidence of some use of EWCS data for policy making especially for comparison and benchmarking.
• Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). There is also evidence of some use EWCS data to set up priorities in their agenda and support their arguments and advance their goals.
• Academia, Researchers. Researchers use EWCS data for carrying out independent research in the area. Researchers and students use the findings of the survey and they are usually interested in detailed data and metadata. They use the microdata that is made publicly available after some embargo time. Their use of data may lead to publications in refereed journals.
• Media. The general public use the findings as an input to public dialogue and the democratic process. International or national media – specialised or for the general public – are interested both in figures and analyses or comments. The media are the main channels of statistics to the general public. EWCS data have fostered public dialog and debate on working conditions.

The main user needs are to provide results of high accuracy appropriate for policy making purposes at a European Level and to produce highly comparable data based on harmonised methodology across member states of the EU, candidate countries and other European countries.

The main instrument through which the Foundation receives users’ needs is through expert group meetings in which experts from various user organisations are providing comments and suggestions on the content and the design of the survey. These suggestions are taken into account in the survey design and the questionnaire drafting. Eurofound also measures user satisfaction by monitoring the number of citations of the EWCS data, the number of article cuttings and media reach regarding the survey, the number of downloads of statistics and related publications.

The geographical coverage of EWCS by year is explained above under 3.8.

The sample used in the EWCS is representative of those aged 15 years and over (16 and over in Bulgaria, Spain, the UK and Norway) who are in employment and are resident in the country that is being surveyed. The sample targeted the de facto population (all people in employment living in that country including guest workers, immigrants and refugees) and not de jure population (the citizens of that country alone). In each of the 35 countries, a multi-stage, stratified clustered sampling design was used.

The target number of interviews was 1,000 in all countries, with some exceptions:

• 2005: in Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia it was 600;
• 2010: Slovenia (1,400), the UK, Italy and Poland (1,500 each), Germany and Turkey (2,000 each), France (3,000) and Belgium (4,000)
• 2015: Poland (1,200), Spain (1,300), Italy (1,400), France (1,500), UK (1,600), Germany (2,000) and Turkey (2,000).

The sample used in the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS) 2021 is representative of those aged 16 years and over who are in employment and are resident in the country that is being surveyed.

The smallest sample size foreseen was 1,000 (potential and candidate countries and Switzerland), and the largest was 4,100 (Germany); in most countries, the expected sample size was 1,800. The final number of interviews achieved after quality control in all 36 countries was 71,758.

The external Survey quality assessment report indicates that the sampling error is similar across EWCS waves and also similar other surveys using stratified multi-stage random sampling.

For the EWCTS 2021, a single-stage, un-clustered sampling design was used in 35 out of 36 countries. The kind of design employed is known as Random Digit Dialling (RDD), which implies that a computer randomly generates telephone numbers that match the configuration of telephone numbers in a country. Further details on sampling for this survey can be found in the sampling and weighting reports.

Non sampling errors cover:

Coverage errors

Under-coverage of the random route process is usually small although its actual extent was not measured. Most of it refers to institutionalised persons (e.g. prisoners) and/or those not having a place of residence (i.e. homeless, travellers etc.). The omission of the former group of persons is a design choice while the omission of the latter is a common feature of all area sample surveys. Bias introduced by coverage problems is alleviated to some extent by weighting which adjusts the distribution of the sample among main variables (age, gender, occupation, economic activity and region) according to a universe description (the EU-Labour Force Survey).

Measurement errors

Measurement errors occur during data collection and cause the recorded values of variables to be different than the true ones. They are distinguished in three types of errors: errors due to the questionnaire, the respondent or the interviewer. Measurement errors are alleviated when experienced, well-trained and not overworked field force is employed in the survey.

Processing errors

The coding procedure was thoroughly checked, and all problems were reported in a coding report. Ambiguities due to inadequate textual descriptions were resolved by re-contacting the respondents. Data entry error rate remained limited, and data entry was of high quality. Checks were performed for inconsistent and/or illogical values before and during data entry with the help of appropriate software so as to ensure that records not pose any apparent empirical contradictions.

Non-response errors

The unit non-response arises from three reasons:

• Inability to contact the sampled household or person. Non-contacts arise because interviewers cannot gain access to a building, cannot reach anyone at a housing unit or the respondent is away or otherwise unavailable during the interview period.
• Inability of the contacted person to provide responses to the survey (due to illness, disability or language problems).
• Refusal to the interview request.

The difference in survey characteristics between respondents and non-respondents creates the non-response error. Nonresponse error can affect the quality of survey statistics. The response rate varied greatly across countries. The average response rate for the EWCS was 47% in 2005, 44% in 2010, 43% in 2015, and 5% in 2021 (for the EWCTS survey).

For more information please see the Technical Report for the EWCS, and the Technical Report for the EWCTS.

Findings based on the EWCS data are published on Eurofound website soon after its delivery and acceptance. In general first publications and reports are disseminated in the course of year N+1 (where N = year of data collection). Micro data for all countries are made available by the end of February N+2 at the latest.

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Harmonisation is a main priority in the EWCS and therefore the variables have been implemented in a harmonised way based on a common master questionnaire and an elaborate process of translation ensuring semantic, conceptual and normative equivalence across all surveyed countries. In the 2015 survey computer-aided personal interviewing (CAPI) was used across all countries and all interviews. In 2021, respondents were contacted via computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) for the EWCTS (2021).

The statistical population was persons in employment according to the ILO definition (having worked for pay or profit at least one hour in the week preceding the survey). Any special cases (students, apprentices etc.) were treated in exactly the same way as in the LFS using the LFS manual and contacts with Eurostat’s LFS team. The methodology used in the different stages of the survey process was quite harmonised.

Because of differences in individual’s willingness and availability to participate in the survey, certain groups are overrepresented – and others underrepresented – in the EWCS sample. To ensure that the results accurately reflect the population of workers in each country, post-stratification weighting is needed. The design weights are calibrated by comparing the EWCS with Eurostat’s Labour Force Survey with regard to respondents’ gender, age, region, occupation and sector of economic activity.

The differences between countries in the size of their workforce are not (fully) reflected in the sample size in each country. To ensure that larger countries weigh heavier in the EU-level results, supranational weights need to be applied when performing analyses on the European level.

EWCS: A number of methodological differences mainly due to the effort to improve other aspects of quality of the survey (e.g. relevance and accuracy) have been implemented that might have affected the comparability of EWCS data over time. In terms of the sampling method (at least in theory) there should be no systematic difference between the results of the waves. The data were collected in different months, which might have affected comparability, depending on the seasonality of the variables used in the analysis.

A large part of the EWCS questionnaire is considered as trend-questions and generally remains unchanged over time in order to facilitate comparisons. However, in a few cases minor improvements were introduced to improve the relevance or the accuracy of results and some new questions were added.

For more information, see original questionnaires and quality reports on Eurofound website:

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/european-working-conditions-surveys

EWCTS: For the first time, the respondents were contacted via computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) for the EWCTS (2021). The sample size for the EWCTS is also significantly greater than the sample for the previous editions of the EWCS. For these reasons, comparability with previous editions of the survey are limited.

The overlap between EWCS and LFS is small and includes (besides the variables already used in weighting) four variables: employment status, working hours, part-time work and temporary employment. Most of the differences between the two surveys are small. Greater inconsistencies seem to be driven primarily by differences in concepts or employment status classification.

The estimates based on EWCS data for a given reference period have full internal coherence, as they are based on the compatible microdata and they are calculated using the same estimation methods.

Revisions to data are infrequent since variables are being edited and corrected based on set of logical edits at data entry stage.

There is no fixed revision schedule.

EWCS data is survey data. In each wave a random sample of workers (employees and self-employed) has been interviewed face-to-face (or via telephone for the EWCTS).

Approximately at 5-year intervals for the EWCS. An extraordinary edition of the survey was also conducted via telephone in 2021.

The contractor conducting the interviews on behalf of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) changes over time.

The interviews are carried out face-to-face. In 2010, in 12 countries a CAPI (Computer Aided Personal Interviewing) data collection technique was used; elsewhere, national agencies implemented the study with pen-and-paper questionnaires (PAPI). In the 2015 survey computer-aided personal interviewing (CAPI) was used across all countries and all interviews.

For the EWCTS (2021), respondents were contacted via computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).

The data editing procedure involves logical screening and code validating embedded in the data collection and data entry, checking for extreme values (outliers) in the continuous variables, qualitative editing, cross-country comparisons for coding consistency and pattern validation and over time comparisons for previously asked questions in order to check coding consistency. Cross country comparisons included the examination of frequency distributions of different countries which may reveal coding problems like reversed scales.

Please see the EWCS webpage: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/surveys/european-working-conditions-surveys-ewcs

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