Living, working and COVID-19 data
Eurofound’s e-survey, Living, working and COVID-19, captures the experience of living and working through the pandemic, with the aim of helping policymakers to bring about an equal recovery from the crisis. Various rounds of this unique survey have been carried out to date.
- Round 1: Launched on 9 April 2020 when most Member States were in their first lockdown
- Round 2: July 2020 when economies and societies were gradually reopening
- Round 3: March 2021, almost a year on, as countries were still dealing with various levels of lockdown
- Round 4: October–November 2021, recontacting panel respondents only, making it possible to track developments since the start of the pandemic
- Round 5: 29 March–2 May 2022, looking at how life has changed in Europe over the past two years. In parallel, a pilot survey was fielded in 10 neighbouring countries using an adapted questionnaire, in collaboration with the European Training Foundation.
The countries included in this pilot include Albania, Georgia, Jordan, Kosovo[1], Lebanon, Moldova, Morocco, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Palestine.[2]
To date, the survey examined quality of life and quality of society during this difficult time, with questions ranging from life satisfaction, happiness and optimism, to health and levels of trust in institutions. Respondents were also asked about their work situation, their work–life balance and use of teleworking during the COVID-19 crisis. In the second round, people were also asked about job quality and health and safety at work, online schooling, use of online services, as well as the extent to which they had requested and availed of government support schemes during the pandemic. Additional questions were added in the third round focusing on attitudes and willingness to be vaccinated, trust in science, as well as use of and trust in social media. Questions also examined access to and quality of public services during COVID-19. While a continuation of previous surveys, the fifth round focused more on questions related to housing, living and financial conditions, and reflections on work–life balance including the division of labour at home.
Explore the data for the first three rounds of the survey. The final findings from round 5 are linked further below.
- Data: Quality of life during COVID-19
- Data: Democracy and trust during COVID-19 (new in round 3)
- Data: Working during COVID-19
- Data: Financial situation and security during COVID-19
- Data: Quality of public services during COVID-19
- Data: Support measures during COVID-19 (new in round 3)
- Data: Vaccinations during COVID-19 (new in round 3)
Read the findings
Final results from round 5 of the e-survey are now available in a Eurofound and European Training Foundation joint factsheet, covering both the EU27 and 10 selected neighbouring countries.
- Publication: Living, working and COVID-19 in the European Union and 10 EU neighbouring countries (7 December)
Factsheets for round 5 (July 2022) and round 3 (April 2021) of the e-survey are available.
- Publication: Fifth round of the Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey: Living in a new era of uncertainty
- Publication: Living, working and COVID-19 (Update April 2021): Mental health and trust decline across EU as pandemic enters another year
Read the full report covering the first and second rounds of the survey.
- Publication: Living, working and COVID-19 (published September 2020)
In Autumn 2022, Eurofound and the European Training Foundation will publish a joint factsheet presenting the results of the fifth round of the e-survey, which covered the EU27 Member States and was also piloted in 10 neighbouring countries.
In light of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020, it should be noted that data published on the Eurofound website may include the 28 EU Member States, as the UK was covered in earlier research. This will be progressively amended to reflect the current composition of the 27 EU Member States.
Footnotes