What shifts did covid-19 year 2020 bring to the labour market in Europe?

Figures & data

Figure 1. Iceberg decomposition for 2020.

Source: Own calculations based on Eurostat data (see Appendix Table A.1).

Table 1. Evolution of the unemployment-to-population ratio (among 25- to 64-year-olds).

	2020		2019		Evolution
	Percentage	Ranking	Percentage	Ranking	Percentage	Ranking
EU-27	5.0		4.8		+0.2
Eurozone	5.6		5.5		+0.1
Austria	3.8	11	3.2	8	+0.6	▼3
Belgium	3.7	10	3.6	14	+0.1	▲4
Bulgaria	3.8	12	3.3	10	+0.5	▼2
Croatia	4.7	15	4.3	17	+0.4	▲2
Cyprus	5.7	21	5.3	23	+0.4	▲2
Czech Republic	1.9	1	1.6	1	+0.3	status quo
Denmark	4.0	13	3.5	13	+0.5	status quo
Estonia	5.1	18	3.4	11	+1.7	▼7
Finland	5.2	19	4.6	18	+0.6	▼1
France	5.4	20	5.8	24	−0.4	▲4
Germany	2.9	5	2.4	7	+0.5	▲2
Greece	11.8	27	12.7	27	−0.9	status quo
Hungary	2.9	6	2.3	5	+0.6	▼1
Ireland	3.6	9	3.2	9	+0.4	status quo
Italy	5.8	22	6.5	25	−0.7	▲3
Latvia	6.9	25	5.1	21	+1.8	▼4
Lithuania	6.8	24	5.1	22	+1.7	▼2
Luxembourg	4.4	14	3.7	15	+0.7	▲1
Malta	2.9	4	2.3	3	+0.6	▼1
Netherlands	2.4	3	2.3	4	+0.1	▲1
Poland	2.0	2	2.2	2	−0.2	status quo
Portugal	5.0	17	4.8	20	+0.2	▲3
Romania	3.3	7	2.3	6	+1.0	▼1
Slovakia	4.8	16	4.2	16	+0.6	status quo
Slovenia	3.6	8	3.4	12	+0.2	▲4
Spain	11.2	26	10.4	26	+0.8	status quo
Sweden	5.9	23	4.7	19	+1.2	▼4

Source: Own calculations based on Eurostat data (see Appendix Table A.1).

Table 2. Evolution of the inactivity-to-population ratio (among 25- to 64-year-olds).

	2020		2019		Evolution
	Percentage	Ranking	Percentage	Ranking	Percentage point evolution	Ranking
EU-27	20.3		20.0		+0.3
Eurozone	20.4		19.8		+0.6
Austria	19.7	16	19.1	15	+0.6	▼1
Belgium	22.8	23	22.8	22	+0.0	▼1
Bulgaria	19.7	15	18.9	13	+0.8	▼2
Croatia	26.0	26	26.7	26	−0.7	status quo
Cyprus	17.1	11	16.7	11	+0.4	status quo
Czech Republic	15.6	5	15.6	4	+0.0	▼1
Denmark	16.6	9	16.6	10	+0.0	▲1
Estonia	14.5	3	15.2	3	−0.7	status quo
Finland	16.3	8	16.5	9	−0.2	▲1
France	20.7	20	20.3	18	+0.4	▼2
Germany	15.7	6	15.6	5	+0.1	▼1
Greece	24.2	25	23.2	23	+1.0	▼2
Hungary	19.4	14	19.7	17	−0.3	▲3
Ireland	21.3	21	20.5	20	+0.8	▼1
Italy	28.6	27	27.1	27	+1.5	status quo
Latvia	14.5	4	15.9	6	−1.4	▲2
Lithuania	13.8	2	14.3	2	−0.5	status quo
Luxembourg	20.1	19	20.6	21	−0.5	▲2
Malta	18.7	13	20.3	19	−1.6	▲6
Netherlands	16.2	7	16.5	8	−0.3	▲1
Poland	22.3	22	23.2	24	−0.9	▲2
Portugal	16.9	10	16.3	7	+0.6	▼3
Romania	23.2	24	23.9	25	−0.7	▲1
Slovakia	19.7	17	19.6	16	+0.1	▼1
Slovenia	18.1	12	18.2	12	−0.1	status quo
Spain	20.1	18	19.0	14	+1.1	▼4
Sweden	10.8	1	10.9	1	−0.1	status quo

Source: Own calculations based on Eurostat data (see Appendix Table A1).

Figure 2. Evolution of the unemployment-to-population and inactivity-to-population ratios (among 25- to 64-year-olds) in the 12 largest EU countries.

Source: Own calculations based on Eurostat data (see Appendix Table A.1). Black dots (open circles) represent positions in 2020 (2019).

Figure 3. Changes in the percentage of 25- to 64-year-old inactive persons with as a main reason the belief that jobs are not available for the 12 largest EU countries.

Source: See Appendix Table A1. Germany is not included because its percentage for 2020 was not yet available on 21 April 2021.

Table A1. Source data

Employment-to-population ratio among 25- to 64-year-olds					Inactivity-to-population ratio among 25- to 64-year-olds				Percentage of inactive 25- to 64-year-old persons with as a main reason for their inactivity: ‘belief that jobs are not available
	2017	2018	2019	2020	2017	2018	2019	2020	2017	2018	2019	2020
EU-27	73.5	74.4	75.2	74.7	20.7	20.3	20.0	20.3	1.4	1.3	1.1	1.1
Eurozone	73.0	74.0	74.7	74.0	20.4	20.1	19.8	20.4	1.5	1.3	1.2	1.2
Austria	76.4	77.2	77.7	76.5	19.6	19.3	19.1	19.7	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2
Belgium	71.9	73.0	73.6	73.5	23.4	23.0	22.8	22.8	1.3	1.1	1.0	0.9
Bulgaria	74.1	75.3	77.8	76.5	21.3	20.8	18.9	19.7	2.6	1.9	1.5	1.2
Croatia	65.7	67.8	69.0	69.3	27.2	27.0	26.7	26.0	2.4	2.4	1.6	1.0
Cyprus	73.4	76.2	78.0	77.2	18.4	17.7	16.7	17.1	1.0	0.8	0.5	0.5
Czech Republic	81.2	82.5	82.8	82.5	16.7	15.8	15.6	15.6	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Denmark	78.3	79.1	79.9	79.4	17.8	17.3	16.6	16.6	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Estonia	80.1	80.5	81.4	80.4	15.4	15.4	15.2	14.5	0.8	0.7	0.6	0.7
Finland	75.9	78.0	78.9	78.5	18.2	16.8	16.5	16.3	1.0	0.8	0.7	1.3
France	72.9	73.5	73.9	73.9	20.6	20.3	20.3	20.7	0.9	0.7	0.7	0.8
Germany	80.6	81.3	82.0	81.4	16.4	16.0	15.6	15.7	0.4	0.4	0.3	-
Greece	60.6	62.3	64.1	64.0	24.0	23.7	23.2	24.2	0.7	0.7	0.6	1.0
Hungary	75.8	77.0	78.0	77.7	21.3	20.4	19.7	19.4	1.0	0.9	0.9	1.2
Ireland	74.0	75.3	76.3	75.1	21.4	20.9	20.5	21.3	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.8
Italy	65.3	65.8	66.4	65.6	27.5	27.3	27.1	28.6	4.5	4.0	3.8	3.9
Latvia	76.4	78.2	79.0	78.6	16.7	15.7	15.9	14.5	1.3	1.0	0.9	1.1
Lithuania	78.8	80.4	80.6	79.4	15.4	14.6	14.3	13.8	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.4
Luxembourg	74.7	74.9	75.7	75.5	21.6	21.3	20.6	20.1	0.1	0.3	0.2	0.2
Malta	73.7	76.1	77.4	78.4	23.9	21.6	20.3	18.7	-	0.2	-	-
Netherlands	79.0	80.3	81.2	81.4	17.6	17.1	16.5	16.2	0.9	0.8	0.7	0.7
Poland	72.9	74.0	74.6	75.7	23.9	23.5	23.2	22.3	1.4	1.1	0.9	0.8
Portugal	76.0	78.0	78.9	78.1	17.4	16.8	16.3	16.9	2.5	2.2	1.9	2.1
Romania	71.5	72.6	73.8	73.5	25.4	24.8	23.9	23.2	1.9	1.6	1.1	1.0
Slovakia	73.8	75.0	76.2	75.5	20.4	20.2	19.6	19.7	0.5	0.4	0.6	0.7
Slovenia	75.1	77.2	78.4	78.3	19.8	18.8	18.2	18.1	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.3
Spain	68.1	69.5	70.6	68.7	19.1	19.2	19.0	20.1	1.3	1.1	1.0	1.2
Sweden	84.1	84.7	84.4	83.3	11.2	10.9	10.9	10.8	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3

Source: Eurostat (variables lfsa_ergaed, lfsa_ipga and lfsa_igar).„ under the table dissapeared.

Table A2. Evolution of the unemployment-to-population ratio (among 25- to 64- year-olds) during the Great Recession

	2010	2009	2008	Evolution: 2010 versus	Evolution: 2009 versus
				2009	2008
EU-27	6.6	6.1	4.8	+0.5	+1.3
Eurozone	7.0	6.5	5.0	+0.5	+1.5
Austria	3.3	3.5	2.7	−0.2	+0.8
Belgium	5.3	4.9	4.4	+0.4	+0.5
Bulgaria	6.9	4.6	3.8	+2.3	+0.8
Croatia	6.9	5.6	5.1	+1.3	+0.5
Cyprus	4.3	3.7	2.6	+0.6	+1.1
Czech Republic	5.0	4.6	3.1	+0.4	+1.5
Denmark	5.3	4.3	2.2	+1.0	+2.1
Estonia	12.7	10.2	4.0	+2.5	+6.2
Finland	5.3	5.3	4.0	+0.0	+1.3
France	5.7	5.5	4.4	+0.2	+1.1
Germany	5.5	6.0	5.9	−0.5	+0.1
Greece	8.5	6.4	5.0	+2.1	+1.4
Hungary	7.0	6.1	4.8	+0.9	+1.3
Ireland	9.5	8.0	4.2	+1.5	+3.8
Italy	4.8	4.4	3.9	+0.4	+0.5
Latvia	14.5	13.1	6.0	+1.4	+7.1
Lithuania	13.4	10.0	4.0	+3.4	+6.0
Luxembourg	2.9	3.1	3.0	−0.2	+0.1
Malta	3.5	3.3	2.9	+0.2	+0.4
Netherlands	3.1	2.6	2.1	+0.5	+0.5
Poland	5.9	4.9	4.3	+1.0	+0.6
Portugal	8.4	7.2	5.7	+1.2	+1.5
Romania	4.2	4.1	3.3	+0.1	+0.8
Slovakia	9.8	8.2	6.7	+1.6	+1.5
Slovenia	5.2	4.1	2.9	+1.1	+1.2
Spain	14.1	12.4	7.5	+1.7	+4.9
Sweden	5.4	5.1	3.6	+0.3	+1.5

Source: Own calculations based on Eurostat data.

Table A3. Evolution of the inactivity-to-population ratio (among 25- to 64-year- olds) during the Great Recession

	2010	2009	2008	Evolution: 2010 versus	Evolution: 2009 versus
				2009	2008
EU-27	23.4	23.6	23.8	−0.2	−0.2
Eurozone	22.7	23.0	23.2	−0.3	−0.2
Austria	22.1	22.5	23.0	−0.4	−0.5
Belgium	24.4	25.3	25.3	−0.9	+0.0
Bulgaria	25.7	24.0	23.2	+1.7	+0.8
Croatia	28.6	27.9	27.7	+0.7	+0.2
Cyprus	18.7	19.4	19.4	−0.7	+0.0
Czech Republic	21.5	21.6	21.8	−0.1	−0.2
Denmark	18.8	18.9	18.5	−0.1	+0.4
Estonia	17.2	16.9	16.8	+0.3	+0.1
Finland	20.0	19.6	19.1	+0.4	+0.5
France	22.6	22.7	22.9	−0.1	−0.2
Germany	18.2	18.6	19.1	−0.4	−0.5
Greece	24.9	25.3	25.9	−0.4	−0.6
Hungary	30.1	30.8	30.8	−0.7	+0.0
Ireland	24.0	23.6	22.7	+0.4	+0.9
Italy	31.8	31.7	31.2	+0.1	+0.5
Latvia	18.3	17.4	16.7	+0.9	+0.7
Lithuania	18.2	19.1	20.7	−0.9	−1.6
Luxembourg	22.9	23.7	25.5	−0.8	−1.8
Malta	37.3	38.7	39.3	−1.4	−0.6
Netherlands	20.0	20.2	20.6	−0.2	−0.4
Poland	27.3	27.7	28.2	−0.4	−0.5
Portugal	18.9	19.6	19.3	−0.7	+0.3
Romania	27.6	28.6	28.6	−1.0	+0.0
Slovakia	21.8	21.8	21.2	+0.0	+0.6
Slovenia	22.1	21.6	21.9	+0.5	−0.3
Spain	20.9	21.7	22.5	−0.8	−0.8
Sweden	13.9	14.0	14.1	−0.1	−0.1

Source: Own calculations based on Eurostat data.