The Quality of Working Life: Is Scandinavia Different?

There have been marked differences between countries in the importance that governments and the social partners of industry have attached to issues related to the quality of working life. In particular, these themes have been much more salient in the public discourse of the Scandinavian societies than in other European societies. But did such policy commitments translate into effective differences in the experience of working life? Hitherto there has been insufficient comparative evidence for any serious attempt to assess this. However, a survey providing data that is comparable for all of the European Union countries offers the opportunity for a tentative assessment of the implications of such policy differences. The paper compares employees' perceptions of the quality of working tasks, the degree of involvement in decision‐making, career opportunities, and job security to see whether the Scandinavian countries have a distinctive pattern from other European Union countries. While a wide range of factors affect the quality of work conditions, employees in Denmark and Sweden (and to a lesser extent Finland) do appear to have higher quality of work tasks and better opportunities for participation. As these were the aspects of working life that were most central to the reform programmes, the results are consistent with the view that there can be societal effects deriving from the policy orientations of the major economic interest groups.