Arbeitsintensität als Gegenstand empirischer Erhebungen. Das Potenzial repräsentativer Erwerbstätigenbefragungen für die Forschung

The potential of representative employee surveys for research The debate on work intensity and work intensification is often emotional and sensitive, not least because it is frequently accompanied by the feeling of overstrain and inadequacy on the part of the affected employees. There are also numerous indications that long-lasting work intensity at a high level can be detrimental for the employees’ health. Against this background, scholarly studies that contribute to objectifying this debate are of particular importance. For this reason, the article aims to portray avail­able representative datasets that are adequate to describe the distribution and, in particular, the determinants of work intensity in Germany. The authors compare the distribution of high work intensity across various data sets. Furthermore, they focus on empirical gaps that can be identified in current surveys against the background of more complex work environments and identify opportunities for further development.