The Global Perspective on Working Conditions' Inequality

A joint ILO-Eurofound report covering about 1.2 billion of the world's workers found stark differences in working hours, significant levels of intensive and emotionally demanding work and that the least-educated have worse overall working conditions and fewer opportunities to develop their skills. Working conditions in a global perspective , provides the first comparative analysis of job quality surveys carried out in 41 countries, mainly over the last five years. It covers the EU28, China, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, the United States, Spanish-speaking Central America, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

It looks at seven dimensions of job quality: the physical environment, work intensity, working time quality, the social environment, skills and development, prospects, and earnings.

Main findings:

• Working time differences are stark across countries, with one-sixth of workers in EU countries working more than 48 hours per week, while in the Republic of Korea, Turkey and Chile around half of workers do so. Across the countries surveyed, at least 10 per cent of workers work during their free time.
• Over 70 per cent of workers in the Republic of Korea are able to take an hour or two off work to take care of personal and family matters. This compares with 20-40 per cent of workers in the US, Europe and Turkey
• Intensive work