Coronavirus has lost about 6 million jobs in the EU

About 6 million jobs in the European Union have disappeared in the first wave of his pandemic coronavirus, according to a survey published today, Thursday (11/3).

According to AMPE, fixed-term contractors, young people and women are affected more than during the 2008-09 financial crisis.

According to Eurofound research, teleworking, part-time employment programs and other government support programs helped protect jobs but also meant that more people found themselves in professional inactivity instead of being included in unemployment statistics.

“There were 5.7 million fewer people employed in the EU in the spring of 2020 compared to the end of 2019, and 6.3 million. less compared to the growth trend that could be expected before the COVID-19 pandemic “, according to Eurofound.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, employment stood at 201 million workers, according to Eurofound, compared to the estimated 450 million people living in the European bloc. The corresponding change in the unemployment rate in the EU was more moderate, from 6.6% to 6.7%.

“In the 12 months to spring 2020, employment in the EU fell by 2.4%, “The weekly hours of those who continued to work were reduced by almost an hour and the percentage of employees who had a job but did not work, more than doubled to 17%,” said the authors of the study.

According to Eurofound, a European agency monitoring and improving living and working conditions in the 27 member states, the number of fixed-term contracts fell by 17%, with southern countries particularly hard hit.

“Younger workers have experienced the largest decline in employment,” the study said, noting that youth employment levels in the pandemic had shrunk more than in the financial crisis that began in 2008, creating the risk of another ” lost generation “.

In contrast to the financial and economic crisis of more than a decade ago, the authors of the study added that the pandemic disproportionately affected women-dominated sectors, such as hospitality, food and travel.

With around half of the EU workforce turning to teleworking, higher education workers in urban centers are more likely to keep their jobs than others, which exacerbates inequalities.

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