Precarious employment
% of the total number of employees, aged 15 - 64, 2019
Working-age population with children
Percentage of working-age population, 2019Employed population usually working from home
Percentage of employed population, aged 15 - 64, 2019
Temporary employees
% of the total number of employees, aged 15 - 64, 2019
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
14.5%
EU27
15.5%
12 million 13 millionA job is temporary when it ends within a specific date, the end of a task or the return of a temporarily replaced employee.
ES PL PT NL HR IT FR SE FI CY SI EL DE BE DK IE LU MT AT CZ SK HU BG LV EE LT RO EU27: 15.0% 1.4% 26.3% 6.1% 5.3% 4.4% 4.0% 3.9% 3.7 % 3.5% 3.2% 3.0% 2.3% 1.9% 1.6 % 1.6% 1.5% 1.4% 1.3% 1.2% 1.0% 0.8% 0.8% 0.7% 0.6% 0.6% 0.4% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% HRFR BEFI ESSE ITPL SI PT HU IE SK LU EE LV DK AT NL EL LT MT BG CY CZ DE RO EU27: 2.5%
2.5%
EU27
2.4%
Precarious job means that the work contract do not exceed three months’ duration. More than 7.0% 6.1% - 7.0% 4.1% - 6.0% 2.0% - 4.0% Less than 2.0%
Employed population usually working from home
EU27: 5.4%
14.1%
0.5% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 7.0%
Less than 6 years 33.9% From 6 to 11 years 29.2% 12 years or more 37.0% Children's age 1 child 46.9% 2 children 42.4% 3 children or more 10.7% Number of children
EU27
46%
54%
HR PT PL SI CY BE IE FR ES RO EL IT SK LU MT DK LV NL CZ LT HU AT BG EE FI SE DE No children 1 child or more 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%The EU has been severely hit by the spread of the Covid-19 disease. Its impact extends well beyond public health, and the economic and social consequences of the pandemic are now a top priority for both the Member States and the EU institutions. Employment, developments in the labour market, and changed/worsened working conditions are the most prominent concerns therein. This infographic offers a closer look at the labour market situation in 2019, referring to the EU population aged 15-64 (285 million people, of which 195 million were employed, 14 million were unemployed and 76 million inactive). Finally, it looks at a recent survey conducted by Eurofound on living and working in the times of Covid-19 lockdown.
A job is temporary when it ends at a specified point in time, the conclusion of a task or the return of a temporarily replaced employee. In the EU, about 25 million employees were temporary in 2019, constituting 15% of employees aged 15-64. The difference between the Member States with highest and lowest levels is 24.9 percentage points.
Work contracts that do not exceed a duration of three months are considered precarious. 2.5% of the working population in the EU aged 15-64 worked in precarious employment situations, with no significant difference between men and women. Nine Member States have a higher share then the EU average.
In 2019, roughly 67 million working adults lived in households with at least one child (46% of all working adults). Member States’ shares vary from 35% to 63%. In 2019, 5.4% of the employed population in the EU usually worked from home.
It means that one worker in twenty, on average, worked at home at least half of the days worked. The Netherlands has the highest share of usual home-office workers (three in twenty workers; 14.1%), while Bulgaria (0.5%) has the lowest share. Thirteen Member States are above the EU average.
Living in the EU: Work before the coronavirus crisis
EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service EUI | European University Institute
Authors: Giulio Sabbati, Members’ Research Service, EPRSIgor Tkalec, GlobalStat, EUI PE 651.926 - June 2020
AT A GLANCE
Duration of commuting between work and home
Average time one-way, in minutes, 2015
Inability to face unexpected financial expenses
% of total population, 2018Eurofound survey: Living, working and Covid-19
50 49 49 48 48 48 45 SE LV FI IE DK BE DE 45 45 45 44 43 42 40 LU NL FR HU MT EE RO 40 40 40 38 37 36 36 EU27 SI AT HR ES CZ PL 34 34 33 33 28 25 22 LT SK BG EL IT PT CY All households Households without dependent children Two adults, at least one aged 65 years or over Two adults Single person with dependent children One adult 65 years or over Single person EU27 32.2% 41.0% 74.8% (BG) 55.3% (LV) 17.9% (MT) 13.9% (MT) 85.9% (BG) 13.2% (LU) 76.3% (IE) 42.1% (IT) 9.8% (SE) 63.5% (LV) 6.4% (LU) 59.5% (LV) 13.2% (MT) 57.1% (HR) 24.2% 25.4% 56.6% 39.5% 31.1% Decreased Increased EL CY FR IT RO MT HR BG ES PL EU27 AT LV SI IE PT SK DE HU NL EE LT LU CZ BE DK FI SE 0% 20% 40% 60% 66% 61% 60% 59% 58% 55% 53% 53% 52% 51% 50% 49% 48% 47% 46% 46% 45% 44% 43% 41% 40% 39% 38% 38% 38% 31% 28% 21% Yes permanently Yes temporarily
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 47% 44% 42% 39% 37% 34% 32% 31% 30% 30% 29% 28.5 % 28% 28% 28% 26% 25% 24% 24% 23% 22% 19% 19% 18% 15% 15% 11% 10% EL CY SI RO BG IT IE ES PL FR PT EU27 CZ MT HR DE HU LT FI LV SK BE EE AT NL LU SE DK 5% 23% FI LU NL BE DK IE SE AT IT PT FR DE EU27 LT CZ EE MT CY LV PL SK ES BG HU HR EL RO SI 59% 57% 54% 53% 47% 43% 42% 42% 41% 38% 37% 37% 36.8% 37% 37% 36% 35% 33% 32% 32% 31% 30% 29% 28% 28% 26% 18% No Data
Daily week Less often
0% 20% 40% 60% 10%7%8% 15% month Several times a FFII ten EE FI NL DK BE LU FR LV CZ DE PL SE EU27 BG AT SI CY HR HU EL PT IT SK IE ES MT RO LT
Started to work from home as a result of the Covid-19 situation
During the Covid-19 pandemic
have you lost your
job(s)/contract(s)?
During the Covid-19 pandemic have your working hours...? Frequency of work from
home before the outbreak of Covid-19
On average, Europeans spend one hour and twenty minutes in commuting to the office and back home per day. Sweden, the third largest Member State by total area is the front-runner concerning the time spent in commuting, at 50 minutes on average one way. The largest Member State (France) is above the EU average in terms of commuting (45 minutes one way); Spain, the second largest, is below the average (37 minutes).
The inability to face unexpected financial expenses refers to expenses such as surgery, funeral, major repairs in the home, and replacement of durables (e.g. washing machine, car). The inability varies across different types of household. Single persons with dependent child (56.6%) are the most vulnerable in this respect.
Share of population aged 18 and more, 2020 On 9 April 2020, Eurofound launched an e-survey targeted at the population over 18 years of age. The survey aimed to capture the immediate changes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in regard to quality of life, well-being, work situation, work–life balance and level of teleworking during the lockdown. Respondents were recruited using online ‘snowball sampling’ methods and social media advertisements. This method consists of a primary data source nominating other potential data sources eligible to participate. While 39.4% of Europeans declared they did some work from home before the pandemic, a further 36.8% started working from home due to the Covid-19 measures. 28.5% have lost their job – whether temporarily or permanently. Half of all Europeans declared a reduction in hours worked.
Notes
GlobalStat is a project developed by the European University Institute’s Global Governance Programme (Italy).
Data sources for page 1: temporary employees (lfsa_etpgan), precarious employment (lfsa_qoe_4ax1r2), Employed population usually working from home (lfsa_ehomp), working adults with children (lfst_hhwhacc) are from Eurostat. Data sources for page 2: duration of commuting between work and home (qoe_ewcs_3c3), inability to face unexpected financial expenses (ilc_mdes04), Eurofound survey: Living, working and Covid-19 (eurofound survey). Extraction date: 13 May 2020.
Country codes: Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Czechia (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Croatia (HR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE).
This document is prepared for, and addressed to, the Members and staff of the European Parliament as background material to assist them in their parliamentary work. The content of the document is the sole responsibility of its author(s) and any opinions expressed herein should not be taken to represent an official position of the Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised, provided the source is acknowledged and the European Parliament is given prior notice and sent a copy. © European Union & GlobalStat, 2020.
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