Skip to content
Minimum wage workers on the front line of COVID-19 fallout

News -

Minimum wage workers on the front line of COVID-19 fallout

Minimum wage workers around Europe are in the simultaneous position of being increasingly called upon to provide essential services during COVID-19 confinement and response measures; as well as being more likely to be made redundant or furloughed due to their concentration in highly impacted sectors. There are high proportions of minimum wage workers in economically mobilised sectors such as cleaning services (16%), agriculture (15%) and retail (13%); but also among those most negatively impacted or curtailed, such as hospitality (16%), personal service work (16%), arts, entertainment, recreation (15%) and domestic work (14%).

These findings are detailed in Eurofound’s new Minimum Wages in 2020 Annual Review. The report presents the situation with regards to minimum wages in Europe immediately preceding the outbreak of the pandemic, and analyses how recent developments have impacted it further. It shows that, despite recent increases in minimum wages across Europe, 7 out of 10 minimum wage workers report at least some difficulty in making ends meet, as compared to less than half of other workers. It also notes that financial precarity varies greatly between countries, with less than 10% of minimum wage workers finding it difficult or very difficult to make ends meet in Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden; compared to 50% to 60% in Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus, and 80% in Greece.

The coronavirus pandemic will contribute to the financial insecurity of minimum wage workers, while paradoxically underlining the importance and added value of their work in many sectors. It has also placed greater emphasis on the importance of the work of the European Commission and its consensus-based initiative around fair minimum wages.

Speaking about the findings of the report, Christine Aumayr-Pintar, Eurofound Research Manager, said “COVID-19 has resulted in significant disruption to both labour markets and broader society in Europe, with minimum wage earners disproportionately exposed not only to the health risks, but also to the employment impacts of this crisis. Although, based on their industry, we can see that there are two distinct categories of minimum wage worker emerging, Europe must be united in putting the interests of minimum and low-wage workers at the forefront of recovery measures.”


Read more:


Read further:


Living, working and COVID-19:

On 9 April 2020, Eurofound launched the first wave of a large-scale online survey across the European Union and beyond to capture the immediate economic and social effects of the COVID-19 crisis.

Almost three months on, Eurofound launches a second wave of the survey on 26 June to compare the situation as economies and societies begin to reopen with the situation during the lockdown phase. Click here to contribute to our findings. 


Graphs:

Topics

Categories

Contacts

James Higgins

James Higgins

Press contact Communication Officer +353-1-204-3100
Christine Aumayr-Pintar

Christine Aumayr-Pintar

Senior Research Manager

Related content

Lack of competition in platform economy could undermine its inherent value

Lack of competition in platform economy could undermine its inherent value

Continued dominance of large non-EU service and work platforms could result in an oligopolistic market situation in the EU in the future. This could hamper the market entry of new players, endangering healthy competition and economic and labour market innovation to the detriment of platform workers and consumers, as well as the broader economy.

#SOTEU and what Eurofound can contribute to the EC’s priorities.

The COVID-19 recovery needs a green, social, digitally skilled Europe

COVID-19 has left many people jobless, furloughed and financially vulnerable, often feeling isolated and pessimistic. It has become clear that the status quo is no longer sustainable or desirable. The political and economic response needs to take these changed attitudes into consideration.

New impetus to collective bargaining: Insights from the ECS

New impetus to collective bargaining: Insights from the ECS

New data from Eurofound’s European Company Survey (ECS) show that two-thirds of workers (private sector, with more than 10 employees, EU27) are estimated to have their wages set via a collective wage agreement. Bargaining coverage is substantially higher in countries where there are sectoral agreements and where these are frequently extended to non-covered companies or workers.

COVID-19: A tale of two service sectors

COVID-19: A tale of two service sectors

The employment fallout of COVID-19 has been a story of two types of service work. Office-based knowledge workers have largely kept their jobs and incomes while working from home; whereas client-facing service workers have borne the brunt of the lockdowns and the steep declines in demand for in-person services in restaurants, hotels, leisure and the arts.

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

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.

Eurofound

Wyattville Road
D18 KP65 Loughlinstown
Ireland