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Quality of Worklife Module (QWL)

Description

In 2000, NIOSH entered into an interagency agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to add a special module to the 2002 General Social Survey (GSS) to assess the quality of work life in America. The GSS is a biannual, nationally representative, personal interview survey of U.S. households funded by NSF. NIOSH selected 76 questions that dealt with a wide assortment of work organization issues. Half of the questions in the QWL module were taken directly from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey, allowing comparisons of worker responses over a 25-year period. The primary goal of the QWL was to measure how work life and the work experience have changed since the earlier Quality of Employment Surveys, and establish benchmarks for future surveys. Secondary goals include measuring the relationship between job/organizational characteristics and worker health and safety, and identifying targets for health and safety preventive interventions.

Supplier(s)

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC, NIOSH)

Data Years Available

2002

Selected Content

QWL covers topics such as hours of work, workload, worker autonomy, layoffs and job security, job satisfaction/stress, and worker well-being.

Response rate and sample size

Responses were received from 2,765 persons.

References

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/stress/qwlquest.html. Accessed September 5, 2010.