Thematic Data
Labour, Employment and Work
Search CESSDA Holdings | Multinational Data | Eurostat Microdata | Statistics, Indicators and Databases | Other Resources
Data on employment rates, working conditions and trends, the impact of Europe's ageing demographic, the effects of technological development and the transition to knowledge economies inform both national, and European, economic and social policy on labour, employment and work related issues. National and international surveys on employees' views of working life, and multi-purpose social surveys linking related topics, can also be accessed. Many available datasets also allow for comparison with data on countries outside of Europe.
Search CESSDA Holdings
The CESSDA Catalogue may be searched by a free text search or browsed:
- Browse by topic: select Labour and Employment;
- Browse by keyword: select Labour and Employment, then select the appropriate narrower term.
Not all of the CESSDA archives publish data descriptions in the Catalogue, and some archives publish only part of their holdings. Therefore if you do not find suitable data, you may find them by searching directly from each archive's own data catalogue.
To each archive's own data catalogue >
Multinational Data
The main European multinational data collections on labour, employment and work are available via the CESSDA archives or project websites listed below. The data files are available free of charge for academic use.
Comparative social surveys, such as:
- European Values Study (EVS)
- World Values Survey (WVS)
- European Social Survey (ESS)
also provide data on work, conditions of employment and job satisfation. For further information, see Multinational surveys.
European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS)
EWCS is carried out every five years by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofond). Survey topics include working time, work organisation, pay, work-related health risks and health outcomes, and access to training.
Time period: 1990/91, 1995/96, 2000, 2005
Countries: EU25 countries, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Croatia, Norway and Switzerland
Access: UK Data Archive. Registration required.
European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS)
Eurofond carries out its EQLS every four years. The survey examines a range of issues, including employment, income, education, housing, family, health, work-life balance, life satisfaction and perceived quality of life.
Time period: 2003, 2007
Countries: EU25 countries, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey
Access: UK Data Archive. Registration required.
European (Establishment) Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance (ESWT)
This Eurofound survey examines whether, why and how companies make use of a variety of working time arrangements (e.g. full and part-time work, overtime, flexi-time, shift work, phased and early retirement and childcare leave arrangements).
Time period: 2004/2005
Countries: EU15 countries, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia
Access: UK Data Archive. Registration required.
International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
The ISSP work orientations module surveys employment arrangements, job characteristics, participants' experiences of working life, outcomes of employment, work/life balance, work centrality, and working relationships.
Time period: 1989, 1997, 2005
European ISSP countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, Finland, Flanders, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
Access: DBK download or ZACAT data portal. Registration required.
Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)
SHARE is a multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database, with microdata on more than 40,000 individuals aged 50 years plus. Data variable themes include health, bio-markers, psychology, economy (current work status, job characteristics, post-retirement work opportunities, sources and the composition of current income, wealth and consumption, housing, eduction) and social support.
Time period: 2004, 2006/2007
Countries: Denmark, Sweden, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic and Poland.
Access: SHARE Research Center at CentERdata. Registration required.
Luxembourg Income Study (LIS)
LIS is a cross-national data center, located in Luxembourg. LIS is home to the Luxembourg Income Study Database and the Luxembourg Wealth Study Database. These databases contain harmonised microdata from high- and middle-income countries around the world.
Time period: 1983-
European LIS countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK.
European LWS countries: Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the UK.
Access: Via remote-access system. Registration required.
Eurobarometers
Since the early 1970's Eurobarometers have conducted face-to-face surveys on behalf of the European Commission at least twice a year. Some surveys collect data on employment conditions, working time, unemployment and participants' working environments. The Mannheim Trend File 1970-2002 contains occupation and trade union membership variables.
Time period: 1975-
Countries: EU members
Access: DBK Catalogue or ZACAT data portal. Registration required.
Flash Eurobarometers
Flash Eurobarometers are specially commissioned telephone surveys on single issues. The aim of a Flash Eurobarometer is to provide up-to-date survey information, as and when required by the European Commission. Conducted surveys include special polls on entrepreneurship and enterprise, and specific target group polls (e.g. managerial staff).
Time period: 1991-
Countries: EU members
Access: DBK Catalogue or ZACAT data portal. Registration required.
Eurostat Microdata
Eurostat is the Statistical Office of the European Communities. Anonymised Eurostat microdata is only available through affiliated research organisations and institutions. Fees apply. Macrodata is usually accessible free of charge via Eurostat.
European Community Household Panel (ECHP)
ECHP data covers a wide range of topics, including: income, general financial situation, working life, housing situation, social relations, and participants' health and biographical information. Data is available for the period 1994-2001.
European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC)
EU-SILC offers comparable cross-sectional and longitudinal multidimensional microdata on income, poverty, social exclusion and living conditions. The first wave was collected in 2003.
European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS)
EU LFS is a large household sample survey providing quarterly results on the labour participation of persons aged 15 years plus, and persons outside the labour force. Data is available for the period 1983-2010.
European Union Structure of Earnings Survey (SES)
SES was conducted in 2002 and 2006. It is a large enterprise sample survey providing detailed and comparable information on the relationship between level of remuneration, individual characteristics of employees (sex, age, occupation, length of service, etc.) and their employer (economic activity, size and location).
Statistics, Indicators and Databases
Eurostat Euro-indicators
The Euro-indicators/PEEIs special topic is exclusively dedicated to infra-annual economic statistics such as consumer prices, national accounts, balance of payments, external trade, industry, energy, commerce and services, and the labour market, as well as a selection of monetary and financial indicators of the European Central Bank and business and consumer survey results from the European Commission's Economic and Financial Affairs DG.
EurLIFE Employment Indicators
EurLIFE is Eurofound's interactive database on the quality of life in Europe. It incorporates data from both Eurofond's own surveys and other published sources.
European System of Social Indicators (EUSI) Labour Market and Working Conditions
EUSI give access to to prefabricated tables of time series indicators on the labour market and working conditions.
International Labour Organisation (ILO) LABORSTA: Database of Labour Statistics
ILO LABORSTA cover official core labour statistics and estimates for over 200 countries, from 1969 onwards. Methodological descriptions of countries' main statistical sources are also available.
International Labour Organisation (ILO):Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM)
Every other year ILO publish KILM, which contains a core set of twenty labour market indicators covering various facets of decent work deficits around the world.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Statistics
The OECD's database contains a large range of statistics for international comparisons and trends over time. Themes covered include labour market outcomes, job quality and labour market policies.
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Statistical Database
UNECE's statistical database offers comparative data for Europe, North America and Central Asia. There are specific sections on Work & the Economy and Labour Force & Wages, which can be found under Gender Statistics and Economic Statistics respectively.
Other Resources
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound)
Eurofound is a European Union body that supports the formulation of EU policy on working and living conditions through research and development projects, the provision of data and its analysis. A number of monitoring tools are maintained, including the European Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO).
European Data Center for Work and Welfare (EDACwowe)
EDACwove provides information on, and direct links to, comparative and national quantitative and qualitative data within the field of work and welfare.
The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR): Dataset search by term "labor"
ICPSR maintain and provide access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction.
International Labour Organization (ILO)
ILO provide data, tables, reports and indicators of work and labour market issues for over 200 countries worldwide.
The MacroDataGuide
International macro data and statistics on work is available via the Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD).