Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The data are part of a comprehensive study of the labour market for manual workers, which relates together the objective job structure and the workers subjective experience.

Main Topics:

Variables Opportunities for job choice in terms of skill demands, job allocation processes, differences between and within firms, and the extent to which jobs provide alternative rewards or are hierarchically structured; whether there are stable differences between workers, providing criteria for the employers to satisfy the labour force; whether workers have the knowledge and relatively stable preferences needed to exercise any control. The last raises questions of orientations to work, and their relation to background factors, as well as their relevance for job choice. The data consist of two surveys of jobs and workers performing them. In addition, background information on town, firms, unions, etc. was obtained from key interviews, observation, newspaper reports and so on. The survey of jobs provides measurements of 31 aspects (e.g. noise, mathematical calculation, pace choice) together with mean wages and hours. The survey of workers covers such items as personal background, job history, perception of job opportunities, priorities, ideology, satisfaction and social activities.

Departments/sections in firms selected on theoretical grounds, then all jobs taken. Stratified random sample of workers doing these jobs, i.e. variable fraction by department/section, with total coverage in some cases. (In two firms several workers who known to speak no English or Italian were excluded from the sampling frames)

Face-to-face interview

Observation