Living, working and COVID-19: Eurofound publishes first survey results
The COVID-19 pandemic has had wide-ranging effects on people’s quality of life and work across the EU. To better understand what those effects are and help shape a proper response to this crisis, Eurofound launched in April 2020 the e-survey ‘Living, working and COVID-19’ .
A comprehensive report of this survey will be published in September 2020. It will summarize and analyze the data on quality of life; work and teleworking; and the living conditions and financial situation of respondents during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Europe.
First survey findings
The first results of Eurofound survey have been published. Here are the main findings on:
Quality of life and COVID-19:
Life satisfaction, happiness and optimism are below usual levels
Young people and those not working have lowest mental well-being
Trust in healthcare and the police higher than trust in governments, the media and the EU
Work, teleworking and COVID-19:
5% of respondents in EU27 reported losing their jobs permanently and 23% temporarily
Working time decreased for half of the working population
Almost 4 in 10 employees started teleworking
18% of all workers report working in their free time to meet work demands
Work–life balance is challenging for workers with young children
Financial situation and COVID-19:
Around 4 in 10 respondents are pessimistic about their financial situation
Over half of respondents have insufficient savings to cope without an income
Financial insecurity most acute for those who have lost their jobs
Around half of all households report difficulties in making ends meet
Being in arrears is a significant problem for the unemployed and self-employed
One unemployed respondent in five is fearful of losing their home.
The report Eurofound’s first findings be accessed here.
Eurofound’s survey is still open. You can join it here
This 10-minute survey includes a range of questions relevant to people across various age groups and life situations. A number of questions relate to indicators used in the European Quality of Life Survey and European Working Conditions Survey.
