The recently published report, 'Living, Working and Covid-19 in the European Union and ten neighbouring countries', jointly produced by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) and the ETF, undertakes a series of in-depth analyses into the Covid emergency and the on-going cost-of-living crisis.
Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Eurofound, the Dublin-based EU Agency, has conducted five surveys. Between April 2020 to May 2022, it polled over 175,000 people using innovative methodologies to reach those sectors of the population often excluded from traditional surveys. In the fifth survey, ETF provided 18,461 voices from 10 EU neighbouring countries: Albania, Georgia, Jordan, Kosovo*, Lebanon, Moldova, Morocco, North Macedonia, Palestine** and Tunisia.
The information yielded by this quintet of surveys is eloquent: according to Daphne Ahrendt, a Senior Research Manager in Eurofound’s Social Policies Unit, the EU’s hope of ushering 'an upward convergence of wellbeing' is now threatened by 'a stark divergence in living standards,' with very large percentages of the populations falling into poverty and struggling to access healthcare, housing and education.
Young people and women particularly penalised
Young people and women have been particularly penalised by the recent crises. Some 9% in the EU and 23% in EU neighbouring countries of those aged 18-29 lost their jobs during the pandemic. And 28% of that same age bracket in the EU felt 'a strong feeling of social exclusion.' Those in the first half of their careers also suffered the highest incidence of mental health issues, a problem which has actually increased rather than subsided in the aftermath of the Covid emergency.
'The results are particularly alarming for those aged between 18 and 44,' says the fifth report, 'with 75% of them being considered at risk of depression.'
Although male respondents worked longer hours than their female counterparts, when unpaid household and care work was taken into account, the discrepancy was vast: men’s total work hours amounted to 74.1 in the EU-27 and 78.6 in EU neighbouring countries; for women, the respective figures were 91.7 and 112.6.
'This is the first time we have figures on gender differences in working hours within our partner countries', says Outi Kärkkäinen, a Senior Human Capital Development Expert at ETF with a focus on gender. 'Women work many more hours: the overall quantity of work they’re carrying out is far higher.' The perceived obstacles to returning to work are also to some extent different for men and women. 'It’s clear' says Kärkkäinen, 'that women primarily fear getting Covid at the workplace, reflecting the over-representation of women in the health and care sector, both in the EU-27 and the EU neighbouring countries.'
Declining trust in institutions
Another theme that has emerged strongly from the surveys is the declining trust in institutions. 'For governments to be able to implement policies,' says Ahrendt, 'especially those far-reaching ones required during the pandemic, you needed a trusting electorate. But we know from our other studies that there’s a firm relationship between trust and the perceived quality of a society and its institutions.' Over the course of the 2020, 2021 and 2022 surveys there has been, across the EU27, a discernible decrease in trust in police forces, healthcare delivery and national governments.
Trust in the European Union is even lower in those countries where large sections of the population are facing financial arrears, unable to access healthcare and suffering from unemployment. Greece, a clear outlier, had both the highest percentage of people losing their jobs in Spring 2021 (21%), the greatest percentage of people currently facing arrears (50%) and the lowest expression of trust in the EU. In many countries, there has been a vicious circle in which those parts of the population who are already vulnerable have struggled most to get access to healthcare during the pandemic, thereby increasing their vulnerability and decreasing their societal trust.
Innovative Outreach
The collaboration between Eurofound and ETF in the most recent survey has offered refined, granular information on countries rarely profiled by professional researchers. Eurofound and ETF conducted innovative outreach via the internet, placing advertising on Facebook rather than relying on the standard registers and the usual face-to-face survey techniques.
'This method was very important,' says Cristina Mereuta, a Senior Human Capital Development Expert at ETF, 'because we managed to contact refugees living in tents with no stable source of food. There were heart-breaking stories, but at least they could send an email and were able to tell those stories.'
It emerged that 81% of people in EU neighbouring countries are struggling to make ends meet. That figure rises to 90% for families with young children. 48% have no savings at all. The traditional routes to improve life chances and living standards – education and training – were out of reach for over 70% of the EU neighbouring country respondents (compared to 36% in the EU27). 84% of those unemployed in the partner countries described difficulties in accessing further education or training.
Feelings and Forebodings
The surveys also added clarity to forgotten aspects of wellbeing: the feelings and forebodings generated by unemployment, exclusion and a deleterious work-life balance. Rather than focus solely on cold facts, the surveys have revealed perceptions and pessimisms. It’s here that one of the central paradoxes emerged: 'While respondents in the European Union recorded a higher quality of life and well-being than those in the neighbouring countries,' the fifth report concluded, 'the latter are more optimistic about their own future and the future of their country than respondents in the EU-27.'
'It’s very intriguing', says Ahrendt, 'and perhaps that difference in optimism arises because in neighbouring countries expectations are lower and so it’s easier to satisfy them.' Mereuta agrees. 'I’m of the generation that saw what happened in the 1990s in Romania, with the sudden transition from a centralised to a market economy. Around 50% of the workforce lost or changed their jobs within a few years. The impact, from a sociological and psychological point of view, was very traumatic for many in Eastern Europe. So, in a way, these crises seem nothing new, it’s as if we’ve faced the worst of the worst before, there have been wars in the Balkans and so on. So for some people, the future is brighter because we come from very difficult situations. But it shows the fact that policy-makers have to look at peoples’ resilience.'
Originally conceived to offer real-time and in-depth analysis during the course of the pandemic, these surveys also provide vital insights into the consequences of other, overlapping crises: the energy, inflation, food, health, housing and security challenges faced by the European continent and beyond. Summarising the surveys’ findings, Mereuta says,
'it’s really shocking and a very serious situation. The levels of pessimism, dismay and financial struggles amongst citizens in both the EU and our ten ETF partner countries are very high.'
The conclusion of the report calls on policy-makers to heed this statistical alarm call and frame legislation to consolidate social protection schemes, to improve access to education, training and decent housing, and to encourage working practises which reflect people’s preferences. If not, it’s clear that free-falling wellbeing and incomes will continue to affect trust not merely in the EU, but in society itself.
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
** This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual position of the Member States on this issue.