Study title

Finnish Working Life Barometer 1996

Dataset ID Number

FSD2658

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2658

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Ministry of Labour
• Statistics Finland

Abstract

The survey studied employee opinion on the quality of working life in Finland. Main themes were job characteristics, work environment, conflicts at the workplace, influence over decisions, working hours, pay systems and job security. The year 1996 survey contained new questions on job skills requirements and the recently established 'job alternative' leave system.

First, the respondents were asked about the number of years they had worked for the employer they were working for at the time, type of contract, number of persons at the workplace, what kind of changes there had been in organisation, staff numbers, working hours and contracts over the past 12 months, and whether people had been transferred to other units. Further questions covered team work at the workplace, whether there had been conflicts at the workplace, between what groups and whether the conflicts had decreased or increased over the past 12 months. Skills requirements and changes in them were charted. Employee influence over, for instance, workload and tasks, and changes in the degree of incfluence were investigated as well as trade union influence and R's membership in a trade union or a professional association.

Next set of questions covered overtime at work, overtime compensation, flexibility in working times, job characteristics, and changes over the past year in workload, physical or mental stress, in access to training etc. Wage level and pay systems were charted. One topic pertained to whether the respondents had presented any ideas to improve working conditions, products, services or working methods at the workplace, how the ideas had been received and whether there had been other development ideas. The respondents were asked how likely it was that they would be dismissed or laid off, or their tasks or working hours would be changed over the next year and how easy it would be to find a similar job.

Opinions were charted on employment situation in Finland and what kind of changes were happening in working life in, for instance, relating to management style, possibility to influence decisions, the financial situation of their organisation. A number of questions and statements pertained to the 'job alternation' leave system.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, urbanity of the municipality of residence, region, occupational status, industry of employment, employer type, weekly working hours, additional jobs, industry of additional job, basic education and vocational education. Most background variables were obtained from the Labour Force Survey 1996 telephone interviews.

Keywords

arrangement of working time; autonomy at work; discrimination; employees; job characteristics; job security; personnel management; personnel policy; telework; wages; working conditions; workloads

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Equality, inequality and social exclusion (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Employment (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Labour relations/conflict (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Working conditions (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Occupational health (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Finnish Working Life Barometers

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Statistics Finland

Time Period Covered

1996

Collection Dates

1996-09

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Finnish-speaking employees aged 18 - 64 who worked at least 10 hours a week

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Data Sources

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey 1996. ISSN=1798-7857. Helsinki: Statistics Finland.

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Simple random

Simple random sample from the population register. For its Labour Force Survey 1996, Statistics Finland drew a random sample of people aged between 15 - 74 and living in Finland. From the Labour Force Survey sample, Finnish-speaking employees aged 18 - 64 who had responded being employed for at least 10 hours a week were selected for the Working Life Barometer. There were 1,177 respondents.

Collection Mode

Telephone interview: Computer-assisted (CATI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

2.0

Related Datasets

FSD2742 Finnish Working Life Barometer: Local Government Employees 1996

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Ministry of Labour & Statistics Finland: Finnish Working Life Barometer 1996 [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-07-27). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2658

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Ylöstalo, Pekka & Kauppinen, Timo & Heikkilä, Asko. Työolobarometri. Lokakuu 1996. Helsinki: Työministeriö.

Related Publications

Ylöstalo, Pekka & Kauppinen, Timo & Heikkilä, Asko (1997). Työolobarometri. Lokakuu 1996. Helsinki: Työministeriö. Työpoliittinen tutkimus; 169.

Kunta-alan työolobarometri 1996. Työministeriön työolobarometrin 1996 kuntatyöpaikkojen osatarkastelu (1997). Helsinki: Työturvallisuuskeskus, kuntaryhmä.

Alasoini, Tuomo (2006). Työnteon mielekkyyden muutos Suomessa vuosina 1992 - 2005. Työolobarometrin aineistoihin perustuva analyysi. Helsinki: Työministeriö. Työelämän kehittämisohjelman Tykesin raportteja 45.

Nikula, Jouko (2016). Middle Class and Middle-class Jobs. Victims of Technological Progress? Sociological Problems. 2016 / Special issue 48/2016, 46-61. Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in conjunction with the Bulgarian SociologicalAssociation. ISSN: 0324-1572