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25 June 2021 07:00

Almost three quarter of people in Croatia are struggling financially during COVID-19 pandemic, but minimum wage increases slightly

74% of people in Croatia report difficulties making ends meet, according to Eurofound’s large-scale Living, working and COVID-19 online survey. This is the highest figure among EU Member States, where the average was 45.1%. For Croatia, this number remained consistently high throughout the pandemic at 73.5% in April 2020 reporting a difficult personal financial situation.

24 June 2021 09:00

Vaccine acceptance hinges on transparent communication

Vaccine acceptance is key to the success of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns worldwide. Worryingly, over a quarter of people living in Europe are hesitant about taking a COVID-19 vaccine, and the level of hesitancy is especially high among heavy users of social media.

23 June 2021 07:00

Financial situation in Luxembourg improving following COVID-19 pandemic

The financial situation of people in Luxembourg is significantly better than the EU average with 11.3% of respondents reporting difficulties in making ends meet in February and March 2021, according to Eurofound’s large-scale Living, working and COVID-19 online survey. This is the third lowest figure among EU Member States with the EU average at 23.6%, just behind Denmark and Sweden.

22 June 2021 09:00

COVID-19: Could businesses have done better?

Are there any lessons to be learnt about the factors that helped some organisations to navigate through the crisis more smoothly than others?

21 June 2021 14:00

Gender pay transparency: Advancing the cause through a truly European proposal

With its proposed directive on gender pay transparency, the European Commission has significantly bolstered the set of tools for delivering its objectives compared to those presented in its 2014 Recommendation. The proposed portfolio of measures addresses many shortcomings of the instruments that national authorities currently employ.

10 June 2021 11:30

EU minimum wages grew cautiously amid COVID-19 economic uncertainty

The economic uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic slowed, but did not stop, overall minimum wage growth in the EU in 2021. Minimum wages were raised cautiously in most Member States, with the median country recording an increase of 3%. Only a few Member States froze their minimum wage rates, marking a very different approach to that taken in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

In general, trust in institutions is continuously higher in Portugal than the EU average but – bar trust in the EU – it has decreased during the COVID-19 crisis.

10 June 2021 07:00

Portugal records highest trust in the EU, among Member States

The trust of people in Portugal in the European Union is the highest across all Member States, according to Eurofound’s large-scale Living, working and COVID-19 survey. With 5.9, it is significantly higher than the EU average at 4.6. Trust in the EU in Portugal has increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic from 5.2 in April 2020 to 5.4 during the summer of last year to 5.9 in spring 2021.

9 June 2021 07:00

Minimum wages rise again, but the pandemic puts a brake on their growth

Decision-makers approached minimum wage setting for 2021 cautiously due to the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Despite this, nominal statutory minimum wages rose in most Member States and the UK, although at lower rates than in recent years.

Trust in various institutions in Sweden remain high compared to other EU countries, however, trust in national government has decreased since the onset of the pandemic.

6 June 2021 07:00

Trust in national government has declined in Sweden throughout the COVID-19 pandemic

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, trust of people in Sweden in their national government has declined from 6.4 to 5.1. Respondents rated their trust levels at the onset of the pandemic (data collection April 2020) at 6.4 on average, which decreased to 5.5 during the summer months of last year and then to 5.1 in February and March of this year.

5 June 2021 07:00

Denmark only EU country where trust in national government increased since summer 2020

Trust in the national government in Denmark ranked highest among EU countries at 7 out of 10, according to Eurofound’s large-scale Living, working and COVID-19 online survey. This marked an increase of 0.5 points compared to the summer of last year. This pattern goes against the trend observed in all other EU Member States, where the average trust rating fell to just 3.9 from 4.6.

The most recent figures for Italy on the financial situation is in line with the EU average of 22.1% and marks a positive development, one which occurred in just six other EU Member States (Croatia, Spain, Romania, Denmark, Sweden and France).

2 June 2021 11:00

Reduced feeling of financial strain in Italy

Pessimism about one’s future financial situation has decreased in Italy compared to summer 2020, according to Eurofound’s large-scale Living, working and COVID-19 online survey. In February 2021, over one fifth (22.5%) of people in Italy expected a worsening of their situation compared to 27.6% in June/July of last year.

2 June 2021 07:00

Just 12% in EU feel pandemic support measures are fair

Just 12% of people surveyed in the third round of Eurofound’s Living, working and COVID-19 online survey believed the support measures rolled out to help deal with the implications of the pandemic were fair, with the same proportion believing that the measures reached those who needed them.

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Eurofound, a tripartite European Union Agency, provides knowledge to assist in the development of social, employment and work-related policies