The impact of COVID-19 for people living and working in Europe: How can policymakers respond?

The first findings from Eurofound’s survey Living, working and COVID-19 launched on 9 April paint a stark picture, with people across the EU experiencing a deterioration in their economic situation and concerns for their financial future. EU citizens are generally reporting a decrease in their well-being but young people in particular are reporting much lower levels of mental well-being and higher levels of loneliness than other age groups.

The coronavirus has brought science back to the centre, including in countries where populist leaders used to delegitimize it. Epidemiologists, medical doctors and biologists bring us hard facts: the pandemic progresses every day; it is far worse than a “strong flu” and takes thousands of lives on all continents. Social scientists have come up with facts that are as hard and as unquestionable: while the virus itself is a biological agent that may infect each of us, we are deeply unequal when confronted to it.

There is a significant difference between Spain and Italy in terms of the proportion of workers who started teleworking as a result of COVID-19 by country (%). 

The aim of the survey is to investigate the impact on well-being, work and telework and on the financial situation of people living in Europe.
It includes a range of questions relevant to people across various age groups and life situations.
Most of the questions are based on Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) and European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), while other questions are new or were adapted from other sources, such as the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC).