Europeans’ working conditions have deteriorated in the past five years

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The European Commission has published the results of a survey of Europeans’ working conditions and the impact that the economic crisis may have had on them. The survey was carried out on a representative sample of 26,500 working persons in Europe. It shows a general deterioration in working conditions and major disparities with regard to workers’ satisfaction depending on the country.

Most workers say they are satisfied with their working conditions (on average 77% in the EU) and with health and safety in the workplace (85%). More than 80% of those surveyed in Luxembourg, Finland and the Netherlands consider that their working conditions are good. Then come Austria, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Estonia.

But although Europeans as a whole say they are satisfied, most of them (57%) deplore a general deterioration in their working conditions over the past five years. The deterioration especially concerns France (62%), Cyprus and Hungary (75%), Portugal (78%), Slovenia (84%), Italy (85%), Spain (86%) and Greece (88%).

According to the European Commission, the results of the survey show that improvements must be made in the following areas:

• Stress prevention;
• The balance between working life and private life;
• The prevention of risks related to nanotechnologies and biotechnologies;
• MSD prevention.

Look up the survey results