Living and working in Europe

Living and working in Europe 2021 covers a wide range of topics, from the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment, work patterns and young people’s well-being to the inequalities in the employment and working conditions of women and men. It also highlights the connections between Eurofound’s work and EU policy priorities around the green and digital transitions, upward convergence and the future of Europe.

In this light, the yearbook puts the spotlight on a number of important research areas.

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Living in the time of COVID-19

The COVID-19 outbreak of 2020 stretched into 2021, and Europeans lived through a second year of readjusted reality, with real consequences for people’s lives and work situations.

In March 2021, one year into the pandemic, the launch of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan to turn the commitments of the Pillar into reality was timely, with the economy and labour markets in flux and many citizens feeling the sting. The Action Plan aims to secure the social rights of citizens so that the EU’s green and digital transition is fair and just for everyone.

Research focuses on:

• Who lost their jobs and who did not, as well as the efforts made by governments and the EU to keep people in employment, informed by Eurofound’s unique Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey
• The experience from the business perspective on work organisation and the future of teleworking
• How the pandemic restrictions changed the lives of the young generation
  • Podcast: The impact of COVID-19 on young people in the EU
• The implications of the pandemic for the future of Europe: how much is it likely to have impeded progress on achieving social goals and upward social convergence in the EU over the coming years?

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Confronting societal challenges

COVID-19 has been all-consuming, soaking up the attention, energy and resources of research and policymaking alike. Although the pandemic has drawn the spotlight away from long-term social challenges at the heart of the European project, the drive for better jobs, better living standards and better working conditions persists.

The Conference on the Future of Europe is a deliberate move to connect with EU citizens. Launched in May 2021, it is expected to have conclusions in the first half of 2022.

Research focuses on:

• Topics tackled by Eurofound’s work in 2021 that aimed to provide evidence-based knowledge to fuel change and achieve upward convergence
  • Podcast: Social Europe more urgent than ever, with Nicolas Schmit
• The widespread pessimism of Europeans about the future and the widening of wealth inequality
• Different aspects of gender inequality in employment, against the backdrop of the ambitious Social Pillar target to halve the gender employment gap by 2030
  • Podcast: Gender equality
• Labour market participation and the chronic shortage of workers to sustain the EU economy
• The challenges ahead for the world of work as the economy evolves and digitalises
  • Podcast: Sustainable work

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Eurofound in 2022

The crisis has exposed the fault lines in European societies and played out along them. Eurofound’s work calls attention to many of those fault lines – those that run through life and work in Europe. They present many questions about the path ahead and the choices for policymakers.

In 2021, Eurofound began its 2021–2024 programming period, aptly titled ‘Towards recovery and resilience’. The EU pushed forward with the policy programme driving a recovery from the pandemic focused on a climate-neutral economy and a more equal society. The invasion of Ukraine at the end February 2022 has cast a shadow over the EU’s forward planning. Eurofound developed its work programme for 2022 prior to this event; as a result, much of the Agency’s focus will be on analysing the changed lives and work of Europeans resulting from the crisis born from the pandemic. Nevertheless, the Agency has adapted its work for the coming year, where feasible, to capture the consequences of the war.

• Podcast: The future of living and working in Europe

Download the full yearbook:

• Publication: Living and working in Europe 2021
• Podcast: : Living and working in Europe: Past, present and future