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Workers will experience the effects of climate change in many ways: job insecurity, changes to their work tasks and responsibilities, and changes in their workplaces that may involve different work practices and the development of new activities and products. Climate change risks are associated with increased exposure to hazards, leading to lower standards of job quality, productivity loss and greater job and work insecurity. Nearly half of workers in the EU will experience profound changes in their job tasks as economies adapt to climate change and climate mitigation strategies are implemented. In addition, work is likely to change as a result of company responses to climate change. These changes in work, while increasing the vulnerability of some workers, offer opportunities to improve some dimensions of job quality. This report outlines the complex relationship between job quality and climate change, including the implication of green tasks in selected sectors.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a diverse collection of workers ensured the functioning of our societies. In a time of crisis, they maintained access to healthcare, long-term care and other essential goods and services, including food, water, electricity, the internet and waste treatment. These were the COVID-19 pandemic essential, or critical, workers, many of whom risked their physical and mental health by continuing to go to work during the pandemic.

This policy brief investigates the job quality of these critical workers, making use of unique sources of information, including data from the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey 2021, data gathered by correspondents from across the Member States and interviews with EU-level social partner representatives from selected sectors. It examines the experiences of work among critical workers during the pandemic, and highlights imminent challenges to the sustainability of their work. The aim is to discover whether these workers are equipped to support society through future shocks and crises.

Gender inequality at work persists across Europe, despite the long standing attention paid and efforts made to tackle it. This Eurofound report presents a closer look at women’s and men’s working conditions, using data from Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) and complementing previous Eurofound research on, among other things, working time patterns, work–life balance and workers’ health. Beyond the general differences in the labour market, it highlights many important gaps in men’s and women’s working conditions and job quality which require specific attention. According to the EWCS data, the reduction of gender gaps in those areas showing improvement over the last 5 to 10 years remains limited. European and national strategies aimed at achieving job quality for all, that seek to mainstream gender equality, could help address persistent inequalities between men and women.

Job quality is a major focus of policymakers around the world. For workers, the enterprises that employ them and for societies, there are benefits associated with high-quality jobs, and costs associated with poor-quality jobs. This report – the result of a pioneering project by the International Labour Organization and Eurofound – provides a comparative analysis of job quality covering approximately 1.2 billion workers in Europe, Asia and the Americas. It analyses seven dimensions of job quality: the physical environment, work intensity, working time quality, the social environment, skills and development, prospects, and earnings, finding both important differences and similarities between countries. By analysing positive and negative aspects of job quality in different countries and societies, the report provides a way to look beyond national explanations, to see how some groups of workers are affected more than others and understand the particular issues for women workers around the world – in support of evidence-based policymaking to improve job quality.