EU Jobs at Highest Risk of Covid-19 Social Distancing: Will the Pandemic Exacerbate Labour Market Divide?

33 Pages Posted: 23 May 2020

See all articles by Konstantinos Pouliakas

Konstantinos Pouliakas

University of Aberdeen - Business School; Cedefop; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Jiri Branka

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Abstract

This paper employs a skills-based approach to identify individual and job factors most likely to be impacted by social distancing measures and practices due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Using data from the Cedefop European skills and jobs survey, a Covid-19 social distancing risk index (COV19R) is created based on skills descriptors that categorise jobs by their level of physical proximity to others and their digital intensity.It is conservatively estimated that about 45 million jobs in the EU-27 labour market (23% of total EU-27 employment) are faced with a very high risk of Covid-19 disruption and another 22% of the EU workforce – mostly medium- to lower-skilled service provision – is exposed to some significant risk. The burden of the Covid-19 social distancing risk falls disproportionately on vulnerable workforce groups, such as women, older employees, non-natives, the lower-educated, those working longer hours and employed in micro-sized workplaces. The findings call for immediate and targeted policy responses to prevent ongoing job losses and widening of labour market and social inequalities due to the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19, social distancing, risk, skills, EU

JEL Classification: C21, J01, J24, J28

Suggested Citation

Pouliakas, Konstantinos and Pouliakas, Konstantinos and Branka, Jiri, EU Jobs at Highest Risk of Covid-19 Social Distancing: Will the Pandemic Exacerbate Labour Market Divide?. IZA Discussion Paper No. 13281, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3608530 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3608530

Konstantinos Pouliakas (Contact Author)

University of Aberdeen - Business School ( email )

Edward Wright Building
Dunbar Street
Aberdeen, Scotland AB24 3QY
United Kingdom

Cedefop ( email )

PO Box 22427
Finikas (Thessaloniki), 55102
Greece

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Jiri Branka

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

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