The Coronavirus (COVID-19) could expose existing shortcomings in employment arrangements and social protection in Europe, particularly for some workers in non-standard employment and vulnerable self-employed groups – who are more likely to be at risk of poverty and the impacts of economic shocks.
Eurofound's analysis of the 2016 European Quality of Life Survey shows that in many countries decline in trust in institutions was a temporary phenomenon during the recession that followed the 2008 financial crisis.
Eurofound research shows that the healthcare sector already has among the highest reported work intensity scores in Europe. COVID-19 risks not only exacerbating imbalance between sectors, but also creating a broader gender imbalance in work intensity on the labour market, as women are most represented in healthcare.
While the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic presents enormous social, economic and health challenges, it is worth noting on Cyprus’ national day that there have been improvements to the quality of society in recent years with the level of social exclusion declining between 2011 and 2016, while at the same time, the level of trust in people has increased.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic presents unprecedented health, social and economic challenges for Europe, and has profound implications for the way people live and work across the globe. One of the changes that it is already having is the proportion of people working from home.
People aged 25-34 are most likely to be in arrears in the EU, according to Eurofound’s new report on Addressing household over-indebtedness. Among this age group, 21% of people surveyed in the 2016 European Quality of Life Survey reported being in some form of arrears.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown societies around the world into flux and threatens to undo some of the positive progress that has taken place in recent years. However decreasing levels of societal tensions, such has been the case in Greece, may be a positive indicator of strengthening solidarity in society which is important in these difficult times.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, and the economic and social challenges that it entails, comes at a time when many vulnerable groups in Europe were already exposed to debt and arrears, according to Eurofound’s new research on household indebtedness.
Hungary has recorded a remarkable improvement in the level of labour market participation over the last decade and unemployment rates have fallen to some of the lowest levels in the EU. At the same time, life satisfaction in Hungary has increased from 5.9 in 2003 to 6.5 in 2016 and the share of population struggling to make ends meet has been on a downward trajectory.
Men outnumber women in management positions by almost two to one in the EU, despite women constituting 48% of the labour market. On average, women made up just 36% of all managers in the EU in 2015, and despite some progress being made in recent years, men outnumber women in management positions in almost all sectors.
Bulgaria has experienced seismic shifts in typical household composition over the last decade; reporting the largest decrease in the share of multigenerational households in the EU, as well as increasing levels of cohabitation and people living alone. These societal trends occur at the same time as improving quality of life, higher labour market participation rates and population ageing.
New calculations from Eurofound show that the difference in female and male employment rates cost the EU, including the United Kingdom, over €360 billion in 2018.
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.
