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. 

You can download here the PDF report
  

Ongoing survey

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.