Employment options of the future survey (1998)
Employment preferences
Policy debate on flexibility has taken various forms but has seldom been supported by empirical data - especially individual preferences regarding working arrangements. To meet this need, the Foundation carried out an Employment options of the future survey (1998) of more than 30,000* persons aged between 16 and 64 years across the 15 EU Member States and Norway.
The survey not only asked about present work options but had a special interest in the future i.e. what people think will change over the next five years with regard to: their personal situation (marital status, children, care of elderly or ill persons); the general economic situation; their own economic situation; the situation on the labour market; and - taking into account the probable changes over the next five years - what they see as their preferred work options in five years' time.
The survey looked at the following four target groups
- Employed persons
- Young entrants: under-30s at the beginning of their working lives
- Women returners: women with previous work experience who want to take up paid work again after a minimum break of one year
- Unemployed persons
To complement the results of the survey data, the Foundation commissioned 16 national research reports (15 EU Member States plus Norway) describing the legislative and cultural background in each country (i.e. labour market policies, social security rules that have an influence on working time, working time regulations, the debate at national level on working time etc.).
*Note:at the time of the interviews, 43% of the non-employed (who totalled 17,908 persons) declared themselves not interested in taking up paid work within the next five years. This group was not included in the analysis.
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