Work isn’t just about bringing home a paycheck

At a time in history when millions of people around the world are staying at home because they are working less – or not at all - an international Ipsos study involving 28 countries highlights just how important it is to consider work as more than just a paycheck [ global attitudes toward work and employment - rapport complet]. We may easily expect that nine out of ten adults say that work should be important in daily life. But we might not be so quick to predict the fact that the vast majority of people who are employed (70%) think that the work they do every day is actually interesting and meaningful, leaving 30% who think their jobs are boring. The level of interest in work remains more or less steady across all geographical areas with the exception of Latin America. In fact, in this part of the world the sentiment runs even higher, in particular in Colombia, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru and Argentina (which all top 95%). In contrast, the most people who say that work is not important live in Germany, the Netherlands, France and Japan (with the number ranging from 16% to 20%). In Italy, this percentage is 6% compared to a European average of 12%.

If importance and interest shape people’s outlook toward work in daily life, there are other aspects that make up the bigger picture of the perceptions and attitudes about working life in general. For example, until what age do people think they will still be physically and mentally capable of working? The global average is 60, with no significant variations among the different countries in the study, the only exceptions being Poland, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, where this age threshold is 44, 48 and 50 respectively. As far as geographical areas, the situation is quite similar as well. The age range at which people expect to be fit to work runs from 66 in North America to 56 in Africa and the Middle East. And until what age are people able to find work? On average up to 49, but here Italy stands out at 41 (in last place, alongside Malaysia and Poland); 59 is the oldest that people would be considered employable in the Netherlands and the US. In Italy there is the biggest gap between the age at which people think they would still be able to find work, and when they would no longer be fit to work: 20 years compared to a global average of 11. On average at a global level, people think they’ll have to ‘retire to private life’ at the age of 59, with the range in this case spanning from 55 in the Middle East to 63 in G8 countries and in North America. And finally, the study wouldn’t be complete without data on how long people want to continue working before they retire. Around the world people feel active until they’re 57, on average, with the lowest age recorded in Malaysia (50) and the highest in Japan (63), the country where people tend to want to work the longest.

Work isn’t just about bringing home a paycheck