Finnish Working Life Barometers are annual surveys investigating employee opinions on changes in working life in Finland. The survey series was launched in 1992 and is conducted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Many questions and themes have remained the same over the years. Main themes include employment, economy, staff numbers, autonomy, organisation and flexibility of work, and psychosocial work environment. Data are collected in connection with the Labour Force Surveys of Statistics Finland.
The Finnish Working Life Barometers studies the quality of Finnish working life and changes in working conditions from the perspective of wage earners. The content of the Finnish Working Life Barometers has remained largely unchanged over the years.
The 2024 survey began by asking respondents about the number of employees at their workplace and presented statements about the working atmosphere, openness, and fairness at the workplace. This was followed by statements related to maintaining work ability, asking, for example, whether the workplace promotes skills development and a safe working environment and whether the employer supports employees' physical activity. The survey also examined employees' opportunities for training and learning new skills.
Next, questions were asked about flexible working hours, remote work, and wages. In addition, autonomy at work was surveyed by asking about employee's ability to influence on, for example, work tasks, work distribution, work pace, place of work, or workplace development. After that, they asked about the use of digital tools, such as social media, various instant messaging apps, and AI-based tools.
The survey also examined whether respondents experienced unequal treatment, discrimination, or emotional abuse at work due to factors such as ethnic background, gender, or age. Respondents were also asked about experiences of physical violence and sexual harassment. Feelings related to work ability and work, such as stress, exhaustion, enthusiasm, meaningfulness, and community spirit, were also surveyed. Finally, questions were asked about possible changes in the respondents' work and whether they belonged to a trade union or unemployment fund.
Background variables included, among others, gender, age, status in employment, employer type, industry of employment, type of contract and weekly working hours.
The sample of the survey consisted of employees aged 18-64 who had responded to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey. Respondents to the Labour Force Survey are employees who work at least ten hours per week. The Labour Force Survey sample was selected by stratified random sampling from Statistics Finland's population database which is based on the Central Population Register. The Labour Force Survey is a panel survey in which the same person is interviewed a total of five times over a period of 15 months. The sample for one survey month consists of five rotation groups that have entered the survey at different times. For the 2024 barometer sample, all employees who met the above criteria were selected from rotation groups 2 and 3 of the August and September Labour Force Surveys. This resulted in a total sample size of 2,984 employees.