Manufacturing: Working Conditions and Job Quality

Abstract

This report gives an overview of working conditions, job quality, workers’ health and job sustainability in the manufacturing sector. It is based mostly on the fifth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), which gathers data on working conditions and the quality of work across 34 European countries. Additional information on the structural characteristics of the sector is derived from Eurostat data. The fifth EWCS contains responses from almost 44,000 workers in manufacturing. The report compares aspects of work in the manufacturing sector with the EU28 as a whole and examines differences across the 11 subsectors within the sector: • food (NACE 10): 11,838 cases; • textiles (NACE 13): 14,468 cases; • leather (NACE 15): 106 cases; • wood (NACE 16): 251 cases; • paper (NACE 17): 107 cases; • printing (NACE 18): 328 cases; • chemicals (NACE 20, 21): 22,599 cases; • steel (NACE 24): 200 cases; • metal (NACE 25 to 30): 1,382 cases; • furniture (NACE 31): 351 cases; • other manufacturing sectors (NACE 12, 19, 23, 32): 33,357 cases.