Eurostat says “Coronavirus may drive change in precarious employment”

The European Statistics Office (Eurostat) says in a publication on Monday that the current labour market outlook may change as the pandemic crisis unfolds in the European Union. In 2019, the number of workers with a contract of up to three months in the EU was 2.3%, above the percentage in Portugal (2.1%).

Eurostat believes that this outlook will change: “However, this picture may change in the years ahead as the EU economy recovers from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the confinement measures introduced by many EU Member States.”

“The pandemic forced many businesses to cut employees’ hours, temporarily cease operations or to close their business permanently,” notes the European statistics office.

The rate of precarious work as a percentage of total employment has remained stable over the last decade, ranging from a low of 2.3% in 2009, a high of 2.5% in 2015 and now again at 2.3% in 2019.

In the European Union, jobs in agriculture are the most precarious with a weight of 7.5%, followed by tourism-related sectors such as trade, transport, accommodation and catering with 2.8%.

By country, Croatia, a country heavily dependent on tourism, has the largest share of precarious employment, accounting for 5.8% of total employment in 2019. On the other hand, the lowest rate is in the Czech Republic and Romania (0.2%).