Euro-Barometer 9: Employment and Unemployment in Europe, April 1978

This round of Euro-Barometer surveys queried respondents on standard Euro-Barometer measures, such as how satisfied they were with their present life, whether they attempted to persuade others close to them to share their views on subjects they held strong opinions about, whether they discussed political matters, what their country's goals should be for the next ten years, and how they viewed the need for societal change. Additional questions focused on the respondents' knowledge of and opinions on the European Community (EC), including how well-informed they felt about the EC, what sources of information about the EC they used, whether their country had benefited from being an EC member, and the extent of their personal interest in EC matters. Another major focus of the surveys was on the causes and consequences of unemployment, both generally and among women and youth in particular. Those who had been unemployed during the previous three years were asked about their ability to obtain various kinds of public assistance and how selective they were when looking for work. Attitudes toward the European Parliamentary elections (postponed from 1978 to 1979) also continued to be measured. Demographic information gathered includes respondents' religion, education, occupation, marital status, age, and sex, as well as the occupation of the head of household and the composition of the household. In addition to the survey itself, the ICPSR version of the study contains constructed indices on materialist/post-materialist values, left-right partisan vote, European Parliament partisan vote, and cognitive mobilization (an indicator of an individual's potential to take an active role in the political process). Euro-Barometer 9 contains data gathered from representative samples of respondents aged 15 or older interviewed in each of the nine nations of the EC (Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, and Netherlands) in April 1978.