Chiswickite - formerly The Croydonian

This time featuring the unmissable 'Fourth European Working Conditions survey', fresh off the presses..

I'm working on it at the moment, but it includes such unexpected facts as men in the UK and Ireland claiming to do more housework hours than any other nationals in Europe, the high likelihood of wokplace bullying and harassment in Finland, and the awesome hours worked by the Turks.

Firstly, the break down of the labour force by occupation. Turkey is way ahead for the percentage in fishing and farming, with Italy off all places coming in last. I'm even more bitter about the CAP as a result. France is second behind Croatia for the proportion of unskilled blue-collar workers in the workforce, while some 40& of the Dutch are senior manager or professionals. I wonder how they can find anyone to sweep the streets.

We, along with the Irish are the most likely to work in companies with 250 plus employees, with the majority of Bulgarians and Romanians working in companies with 10 employees or fewer. I imagine the works / office parties are dire, although getting the boss to buy drinks all round is less of an ask.

On a pan-EU (plus accession candidates) basis, the hospitality trade shows the greatest skew to the under 24s and farming the greatest to the over 55s. Not a huge surprise. What they see fit to call real estate, which presumably goes beyond house pimping has the most even split between those two groups. Meanwhile, 80% of health workers are female and 90% of construction workers male, so pick your calling based on your proclivities for that all important workplace romance. Rather amusingly, models are classed as blue collar.

Returning to the T*C's figures from earlier, the Dutch have it the easiest for working hours at an average of 33 hours a week, and do not expect much quality time with the kids, TV, pub or whatever in Turkey - Turks average a 54 hour week. Some 30% of Italians work six-day weeks. Meanwhile, out of 31 countries tracked, Her Majesty's subjects come in 29th, just ahead of the Dutch and the Norwegians. I discovered this report from a very selective TUC press release earlier, which did not mention this fact. Fancy... Norwegians are keenest on moonlighting / portfolio careers, with more than 15% having two or more jobs. We, along with the French and the Cypriots are the least likely to at less than five per cent.

As to housework, men in the British Isles claim to spend just under an hour a day on housework, with women claiming 17 hours a week - a higher combined total than for any other of the grouped nations. So, are we pathological liars, tidiness freaks or just not very good at it? And check for dust bunnies in Zagreb and Ankara - those two countries average a little over 12 hours of housework a week

The British Isles, Danes, Dutch, Finns and Swedes are the most likely to suffer violence or threats thereof at work, with the Mediterranean countries proving consideraly less dangerous. Likewise the Balkan duo. Bullying and non-sexual harassment is commonest in Finland, so remember that the next time you are tempted to buy something stamped made in Finland. The Dutch and Luxemburgers are not much better, with Bulgaria and Italy altogether more laid back. As to sexual harassment, the most likely to suffer it are under 30 women in the Czech Republic and Norway. For those 50+, harassment is roughly equal for both sexes, and reported as less than one per cent. The hospitality trade and healthcare see the most sexual harassment, so warn any daughters intent on a summer bar job in Karlovy Vary or Prague. And there is marginally more violence in finacial intermediation than manufacturing, with healthcare the worst.

Labels: EU fun and games, surveys

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at 10:13 pm. You can skip to the end and leave a response.