Conditions de travail et « crise de l'emploi », une analyse sectorielle : quelques résultats de l'observatoire Evrest à deux dates

This article reports on a sectorial study, related to a period, which starts at the beginning of financial crisis, and ends in 2013. Possible correlations are examined between variations of employment during that period in each sector and data about working conditions in this sector - these being assessed according to “Evrest” French observatory. “Crisis of employment” is taken into account through two indicators: the average annual variation of workforce between 2008 and 2013 (INSEE data) on one hand, the perceived risk of losing one's job (according to answers in Evrest observatory in 2011-2012) on the other hand. Four aspects of working conditions have been assessed for each sector: time pressure, physical constraints, lack of possibilities to cooperate with colleagues, and lack of possibilities to learn new things at work. It appears that sectors where the decrease of employment is particularly marked are not always the same as those where working conditions have worsened during the period. Decrease in workforce is nevertheless correlated with a reinforcement of time pressure. But an increase of the workforce does not imply that physical constraints, for example, have been reduced. As for possibilities to cooperate or learn, they have improved in every sector, whatever the evolution of employment indicators. Thus, relationship between working conditions and “employment crisis” is neither simple nor uniform.