Third European Working Conditions Survey (2000)

The third European Working Conditions Survey in the 15 EU member states was carried out in March and April 2000. The sample included over 21,500 employees and self-employed people (1,500 in each Member State, except Luxembourg: 500).

Some key findings:

• the most common work-related health problems were backache (reported by 33% of respondents) and stress (28%);
• work is getting more and more intensive. Over 50% of workers report having to work to tight deadlines or at high speed at least one quarter of their working time;
• temporary workers (those with fixed-term contracts and temporary agency workers) continue to report higher exposure to risk factors than permanent employees.

Main publications and documents:

The final report is available for download in English, French and German. The summary based on the findings of the three EU surveys is also available in all official languages.

The Foundation also published several reports based on secondary analysis of the third survey dataset. These included two sectoral reports profiling working conditions in the hotel/restaurants and road transport sectors as well as nine thematic reports dealing with key issues such as work organisation and health, time and work intensity, employment status, gender and age in relation to working conditions.

The survey questionnaire is available in the following languages (pdf): DE | EN | FR.