Occupational profiles in working conditions: Identification of groups with multiple disadvantages

Job quality indexes are constructed on the basis of such aspects of working conditions as earnings, prospects, working time, and intrinsic job quality (which includes skills, autonomy, the social environment, physical risks and work intensity). Occupations where job quality is consistently low are labelled ‘occupations with multiple disadvantages’, where conditions are such that it is difficult for people to stay in these jobs. This report uses data from the fifth European Working Conditions Survey to identify such occupations. It finds that workers in mid-skilled manual and low-skilled occupations do quite poorly when it comes to earnings, prospects and intrinsic job quality, and they report relatively low levels of both physical and mental well-being. However, their working time quality is generally good. In contrast, workers in high-skilled occupations do relatively well on almost all job quality indicators, except working time.