• EWCS 2010 Survey Results

EWCS 2010 methodology - SMT

Eurofound has created the Survey Mapping Tool (SMT) to allow users to have graphical presentations of some of the findings of the 5th European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) carried out in 2010, and of some the developments over the previous waves of the survey.

Trend information: The questionnaire has been updated and expanded in each wave of the survey. Therefore, trend information is only available for some of the questions. The geographical coverage has also been expanded since 1990:

• 1990/1991 - EC12
• 1995/1996 - EU15
• 2000/2001/2002 - EU15 and Norway followed by the 12 'new' Member States and Turkey
• 2005 - EU25, Bulgaria, Romania, Norway, Croatia, Turkey and Switzerland
• 2010 - EU27, Norway, Croatia, Turkey, the FYR Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo

Margin of error: Because the results are based on a sample and not on the whole European population, differences need to be interpreted with care. Small differences between countries and over time can occur as a result of sampling rather than reflecting real differences. Differences between groups within countries need to be interpreted even more carefully.

Weighting: To correct for differences between the sample and the population of workers in each country, weighting is applied, using the Eurostat Labour Force Survey (LFS). As a result, the distribution of the sample across regions, locality size, gender, age, economic activity and occupation is identical to that of the LFS. Furthermore, population weighting is applied, to ensure that larger countries weigh heavier in the EU level results.

Coding: Some of the breakdown variables provided in this tool are simplified versions of more elaborate classifications.

The breakdown for 'Activity of company or organisation' is based on the 16 categories distinguished by the NACE Rev. 1.1 classification of economic activities:

Industry:

A. Agriculture, hunting and forestry;

B. Fishing;

C. Mining and quarrying;

D. Manufacturing;

E. Electricity, gas and water supply;

F. Construction

Services:

I. Transport, storage and communication;

J. Financial intermediation;

K. Real estate, renting and business activities, consulting;

L. Public administration and defence, compulsory social security;

M. Education;

N. Health and social work;

O. Other community, social and personal service activities;

P. Activities of households;

Q. Extraterritorial organisations and bodies

The breakdown for 'Type of occupation' is based on the 10 categories distinguished by the ISCO-88 classification of occupations:

High-skilled clerical: 1. Legislators, senior officials and managers; 2. Professionals

Low-skilled clerical: 3. Technicians and associate professionals; 4. Clerks; 5. Service workers and shop and market sales workers

High-skilled manual: 6. Skilled agricultural and fishery workers; 7. Craft and related trades workers

Low-skilled manual: 8. Plant and machine operators and assemblers; 9. Elementary occupations; 10. Armed forces

More detailed information on methodology is available under 5th EWCS methodology.