(27 October 2020) – Eurostat presents the first experimental results linking the labour market impact of COVID-19 on the most affected categories of workers with their income situation.
Low-income earners including those below the risk of poverty threshold are more likely to be on temporary layoff or to lose their job. The young, low-skilled and the accommodation and food sector workers are often overrepresented in the low-income earner groups in many countries, and hence are at a higher risk.
The social and economic consequences of the pandemic vary across countries. The labour impact is higher in particular in Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Ireland and Greece.
Moreover, the COVID-19 labour effects tend to be highly unequal with vulnerable categories of workers most hit. For instance, the probability to lose the job is two to three times larger for low-income earners in Spain, Ireland, Italy or Portugal.