Authors

• International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
• Blom, Raimo (University of Tampere. Department of Sociology and Social Psychology)
• Melin, Harri (University of Turku. Department of Sociology)
• Tanskanen, Eero (Statistics Finland)

Keywords

employment, hours of work, job changing, job characteristics, job satisfaction, job security, occupational life, occupational qualifications, unemployment, work attitude, work-life balance, working conditions

Abstract

The survey charts Finnish attitudes to work. All respondents were asked on which areas of life they would have liked to spend more and less time. Their opinions on the importance of different factors in their job and preferred employer and employment situation were studied. The respondents were also presented with attitudinal statements about work.

The respondents who were in gainful employment were asked whether they wanted to lengthen or shorten their working hours, whether they suffered from burn-out and whether they were able to organise daily work tasks themselves. The respondents' views on the importance of different aspects of a job were examined, such as job security, high income, opportunities for advancement and a job that allows working independently. The respondents were also asked how committed to their job they felt, how easy or difficult it would have been for them to find a new job and how easy or difficult it would have been for their employer to replace the respondent with a new employee. The respondents' opinions on the possibility of finding a new job in another organisation and losing their present job were examined. They were also asked to what extent they used IT equipment at work and whether they had a second job.

The respondents who were not in gainful employment were asked whether they had ever been in paid work for over a year, when their last gainful employment had terminated and what the main reason for the termination had been. The respondents' willingness to get a paid job and the likelihood of finding a new job were examined. Job searching methods, participation in further training of professional skills and the main source of income were surveyed.

Background variables included respondent's gender, year of birth, marital status, household size, education, economic activity, occupation, industry class, regular weekly working hours, employment type, managerial position, employer type, trade union membership, voting behaviour, religiosity, monthly income, subjective social class and type of location.