Travail dans le public et le privé : une intensification parallèle

Has the status of civil servants protected them from the process of work intensification observed at the end of the last century ? What has been the impact of the implementation of private sector?s management strategies in the public sector ? Using data from the French ?Working Conditions? surveys, we look into the evolution of work constraints since the mid-80s, from the point of view of both public and private sectors? employees with similar positions, especially of those working in administration, health, security and education. This descriptive approach allows us to specify the results of global comparisons between the public and private sectors ? that could conceal differences between occupations ? but also to generalize the results of numerous monographic studies. Within every profession we studied, the increase of work pressure experienced by the employees seems as significant in the public sector as in the private sector, even though we can observe some small differences.