Poor job quality, including high emotional demand, working at high speed and to tight deadlines, is widespread among several of the sectors and professions deemed essential, key or critical during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The EU’s financial commitment to social issues - with government spending on social services such as social protection, education and health claiming a significant 35% of GDP in 2020 - underpinned its resilience to the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new joint report by ECDC and Eurofound concludes that adult work-life balance was significantly affected by measures such as stay-at-home orders and recommendations, closures of day-care, primary and secondary schools and national teleworking recommendations implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
41.7 million people teleworked across the EU in 2021, double the number of 2019, as COVID-19 restrictions and changes in work culture significantly impacted work organisation.
The new factsheet on Living, working and COVID-19 in the European Union and 10 EU neighbouring countries presents a selection of results from the fifth round of Eurofound’s e-survey which extended to 10 neighbouring countries for the first time.
The recovery in employment levels was faster for women than for men in the EU following the COVID-19 pandemic: in the last quarter of 2021 there were just over 2 million more women in employment and 1 million more men compared with the same period in 2020.
The impact of the COVID-19 crisis has deepened the traditional gender divides across many areas including the labour market, working conditions, work-life conflict and overall working time, according to findings from Eurofound’s latest research report; COVID-19 pandemic and the gender divide at work and home.
In advance of World Mental Health Day on 10 October, we use Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey data to take a closer look at the impact of the pandemic on mental health.
Rising energy prices are putting more people under increased financial pressure and at a greater risk of energy poverty, according to Eurofound report 'Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey: Living in a new era of uncertainty'
Trust in national institutions has declined across the EU over the past two years. Driven by increasingly difficult economic circumstances and unreliable news sources, even people who previously expressed higher trust levels – such as those in financially secure positions – have become less trusting. We take a closer look at e-survey data to explore this decline in trust.
Recorded trust in institutions such as national governments, the EU, the police and news media has declined across the EU over the past two years, with those who previously expressed higher trust levels, such as those in financially secure positions, now becoming less trusting.
Over 70% of people surveyed in the EU agree with the imposition of economic sanctions on Russia, with two-thirds feeling that more stringent sanctions should be imposed. Support for economic sanctions is particularly high in Scandinavian countries, the Baltic states, Romania, Poland and Ireland.
Eurofound (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions) is a tripartite EU body, whose mission is to provide knowledge to assist in the development of better social, employment and work-related policies.
