Table 1.
Sample characteristics in formal and informal workers from the six Spanish-speaking countries of Central America* (n=10 443)
| Characteristics | Formal workers | Informal workers |
|---|---|---|
| n (%)† | n %† | |
| Gender | ||
| Men | 2176 (55.1) | 4922 (60.4) |
| Women | 1157 (44.9) | 2188 (39.6) |
| Age (in years) | ||
| 18–30 | 1078 (42.0) | 2151 (37.8) |
| 31–50 | 1731 (44.2) | 3430 (41.4) |
| 51 and more | 524 (13.7) | 1529 (20.8) |
| Occupation | ||
| Non-manual | 1861 (63.0) | 2444 (42.6) |
| Manual | 1472 (37.0) | 4666 (57.4) |
| Hours worked per week | ||
| <40 | 388 (13.6) | 1718 (24.9) |
| 40–48 | 1987 (56.9) | 2992 (38.5) |
| >48 | 958 (29.5) | 2400 (36.6) |
| Exposure to ergonomic working conditions | ||
| Handling heavy loads | 297 (8.0) | 1096 (15.3) |
| Carrying out repetitive movements | 1398 (43.3) | 3469 (48.2) |
| Performing extreme forces | 259 (7.0) | 965 (13.5) |
| Working in uncomfortable postures | 196 (6.2) | 523 (7.3) |
| Exposure to psychosocial work risk factors | ||
| High psychological job demand | 1658 (53.0) | 3538 (51.1) |
| Low influence at work | 1288 (37.4) | 3971 (56.7) |
| Low control over the work pace | 2046 (63.3) | 3083 (45.3) |
| Small possibilities for development in the job‡ | 1626 (60.0) | 919 (68.6) |
| Low work social support‡ | 1387 (49.7) | 801 (58.7) |
| Prevalence of musculoskeletal pain | ||
| Cervicodorsal region | 917 (30.2) | 2767 (38.8) |
| Lumbosacral region | 647 (18.8) | 1782 (22.6) |
| Upper extremity region | 814 (26.4) | 2518 (33.2) |
| Total sample | 3333 (27.4) | 7110 (72.6) |
First Central American Survey of Working Conditions and Health, 2011.
*
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
†
n = unweighted frequency; % = weighted percentage.
‡
From a smaller sample (n=4056; 2704 formal and 1352 informal) due to the percentage of ‘does not apply’ answers to the corresponding questions. See the Methods section for a more detailed explanation.