Table 2.

Description of three occupational categories handling things, handling symbols, and handling people related to age, sex, level of education, sector of employment, income and health symptoms (2015 and 2017) (n = 6230)

	n	Handling things (%)	Handling symbols (%)	Handling people (%)
		n = 1780	n = 2029	n = 2411
Age (years)
16–29	648	11.40	11.78	8.50
30–39	119	16.98	20.85	16.26
40–49	1674	25.98	30.31	24.64
50–64	2789	45.64	37.06	50.60
Sex
Men	2828	74.97	49.29	20.16
Women	3402	25.03	50.71	79.84
Level of education
University	3554	33.24	66.06	67.22
High school	2387	57.65	31.08	30.08
Compulsory	286	9.11	2.86	2.70
Employment sector
National public state	832	6.93	26.37	7.18
County and local council	2310	5.42	18.14	76.52
Private	3088	87.65	55.50	16.30
Disposable income (SEK)
0–250,000	1535	17.44	19.53	34.30
> 250,000–400,000	3430	61.43	50.30	54.38
> 400,000	1263	21.13	30.18	11.32
Work physically
No (≤ 1/4 of time)	4806	66.97	89.82	75.38
Yes (≥ 1/2 of time)	1380	33.03	10.18	24.62
Strenuous postures
No (≤ 1 day of 5)	4913	72.67	85.49	79.37
Yes (≥ 1 day of 2)	1272	27.33	14.51	20.63
High job demands
No (≤ 1 day of 5)	4905	82.11	78.31	77.70
Yes (≥ 1 day of 2)	1291	17.89	21.69	22.30
Job control
Yes (≥ 1/4 of time)	4814	81.84	84.47	69.07
No (≤ 1/10 of time)	1377	18.16	15.53	30.93
Job support
Yes, always—mostly	4321	68.24	72.03	69.68
No, mostly not—never	1849	31.76	27.97	30.32
Upper back pain
< 1 day of 10	3896	67.74	63.12	59.93
> 1 day of 5	2267	32.26	36.88	40.07
Tired and listless
< 1 day of 10	3405	59.26	54.57	51.83
> 1 day of 5	2802	40.74	45.43	48.17
Sleeping troubles
< 1 day of 10	3832	65.63	62.63	58.54
> 1 day of 5	2358	34.37	37.37	41.46