Observer et quantifier le travail pour mieux le comprendre. Un dialogue à la rencontre de l’ethnographie et de la statistique

Over the past four decades, the tools for analysing work have considerably evolved. The amount of statistical data has increased, especially thanks to surveys from official statistics, while the field of work ethnography has emerged, making it possible to study work situations in detail. As an academic journal supported by the Directorate for Research, Studies and Statistics (Dares, French Ministry of Labour), Travail et Emploi is a privileged debating place between these two methodological approaches. In this paper, Marie Cartier, a specialist in work ethnography, and Anne-Françoise Molinié and Serge Volkoff, who participated in the construction of statistical surveys on work, discuss the possibilities of articulating these two methods. They highlight the way in which these methods, which are often complementary, have made it possible to document many important dynamics in the evolution of work over the last forty years. JEL : C42, J1, Y8