About COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch

The disruption of work and life as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic across the EU is unprecedented. A growing number of businesses are coming under threat, putting the jobs of more and more workers at risk. Policymakers – including governments, support institutions, social partners and other social actors – moved swiftly to mitigate the social and economic effects on businesses, workers and citizens. Eurofound’s COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch aims to map measures introduced to cushion the social and economic effects on businesses, workers and citizens. It also includes information on the role played by social partners in the design and implementation of the measures.

 ACCESS COVID-19 EU POLICYWATCH

Raw dataset

Access to the raw dataset, updated at irregular intervals, is also available:

• Data: COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch - CSV
• Data: COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch - JSON

Latest updates

View all cases in the COVID-19 dashboard →

Background

Eurofound’s COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the crisis, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts. It aims to:

• give an overview of policy measures introduced in EU Member States (as well as Norway which also participates in the Network of Eurofound Correspondents.)
• create a shared pool of information for Eurofound, its stakeholders and users
• record selected examples of company practice
• identify cross-country trends regarding policy measures as the crisis evolves

Data have been mainly provided by the Network of Eurofound Correspondents, with quality control carried out by Eurofound staff. A mapping report, COVID-19: Policy responses across Europe, drawing on the main contents of the database, is now available.

• Publication: COVID-19: Policy responses across Europe
• Publication series: COVID-19

Scope

COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch includes large-scale government measures and wider collective agreements, as well as regional and local initiatives and support measures for smaller groups of workers. As the situation is evolving, measures are newly implemented, changed or cancelled and replaced at rapid speed. It is planned to update the cases with information on the actual uptake of the main measures.

Outside the scope of this database are public health measures, travel and movement restrictions and company-specific job losses, the latter of which are reported in Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) events database. The ERM database on support instruments for restructuring also provides more structural information on some types of measures, as well as offering the option to filter by measures taken in response to COVID-19. More in-depth sector-specific guidance for adapting workplaces can be obtained from EU-OSHA.

• EMCC: ERM Factsheets
• EMCC: ERM Restructuring support instruments database
• OSHwiki: COVID-19: Back to the workplace - Adapting workplaces and protecting workers