Archive:Hours of work and absences from work - quarterly statistics
Data extracted in April 2021
Planned article update: July 2021
Highlights
During the first quarter of 2020, an unprecedented crisis caused by the coronavirus began and the labour market in the European Union (EU) was affected by COVID-19 measures taken by Member States throughout 2020. Restrictive measures varied in intensity across countries and time. Employment and unemployment, as defined by the ILO concepts, were in this particular situation insufficient to describe all the main developments taking place in the EU labour market.
Eurostat responded by developing a set of additional quarterly indicators, to reflect the main changes in the labour market in the Member States. These indicators refer to the actual hours worked in the main job, the weekly absences from work, the quarterly absences broken down by reason, the recent job leavers and starters, as well as the labour market slack, which comprises all persons who have an unmet need for employment either because they are unemployed according to the ILO definition, are close to unemployment while not fulfilling all ILO criteria, or are working part-time and would like to work additional hours.
This article focuses on the quarterly changes in the actual hours worked in the main job, using an index where the reference (100) is the year 2006 (average over the four quarters of 2006). The index indicates the change in the total actual hours of work in the considered quarter of a year compared to the actual working hours in 2006. The value of the index is influenced by the number of employed persons in the considered quarter of a year, as well as by the number of hours worked by each of these employed persons. Please note that the data presented is seasonally adjusted.
The aim of this article is to describe the actual hours of work in the four quarters of 2020 in the European Union (EU) as a whole, for all EU Member States individually (except Germany for which data is not yet available), as well as for three EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and two candidate countries (North Macedonia and Turkey).
The article is complemented by the article Hours of work in detail, which are both part of the online publication Labour market in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic - quarterly statistics, which also contains other articles such as the Labour market slack - unmet need for employment and Absences from work.
Full article
Women even more affected than men, especially in the second and fourth quarter of 2020
Comparing the situation before the start of the COVID-19 crisis (fourth quarter of 2019) with the situation at the end of 2020 (fourth quarter of 2020), a drop in the index of the total actual hours worked in the main job (computed using the year 2006 as reference with an index of 100 points) can be observed in the EU: from 101.8 index points (in Q4 2019) to 96.8 index points, leading to a decrease of -5.0 index points in the actual hours of work over this one-year period (Figure 1). However, between these two quarters, an even bigger drop in the actual hours of work occurred. Indeed, the index decreased to 85.9 points in the second quarter of 2020 (which corresponds to a fall of -15.9 index points between Q4 2019 and Q2 2020).
This value of 85.9 index points observed in the second quarter of 2020 is the lowest value observed since the beginning of the time series (first quarter of 2006). The second lowest level of the index can be found in the second quarter of 2013, with 95.3 index points. The second quarter of 2013 was a turning point from which the continuous decline, which was due to the financial and economic crisis of 2008, was followed by an increase in the actual working hours.
Looking at the gender differences, women suffered more than men from the COVID-19 crisis throughout 2020 in terms of working hours. The index of total actual working hours for the female population was just before the COVID-19 crisis (in the fourth quarter of 2019) at 108.4 points, reflecting an increase in the working time for women compared with 2006. By contrast, in the fourth quarter of 2020, the index only amounted to 102.3 points, recording a drop of -6.1 index points between Q4 2019 and Q4 2020. Moreover, the total female working time registered several falls over this one-year period: first, it decreased from 108.4 points in Q4 2019 to 102.5 points in Q1 2020; the drop continued to 89.9 points in Q2 2020, reaching its lowest level since 2006; the index of working hours then increased to 104.0 in Q3 2020, to finally decrease again to 102.3 points. For men, the index of actual hours of work passed from 97.6 points in Q4 2019 (pre-COVID crisis) to 93.3 points in Q4 2020, corresponding to a drop of -4.3 points (compared with -6.1 for women). It also fluctuated over this one year period but to a lesser extent than for women. Indeed, from 97.6 points in Q4 2019, it decreased to 93.7 points in Q1 2020, continued to decrease to 83.3 points in Q2 2020, rose afterwards to 93.5 points in Q3 2020, and stabilised at 93.3 points in Q4 2020. Consequently, the index change between Q4 2019 and Q2 2020 amounted to -14.3 points for men versus -18.5 for women, and the change between Q3 2020 and Q4 2020 corresponded to -0.2 points for men versus -1.7 points for women.
Impact on actual working hours at country level
The total actual working hours have been affected differently across countries since 2006. Indeed, as shown in the Video, different patterns can be observed.
Italy was the first European country hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and most impacted during the first three months of 2020 in terms of hours of work. However, the situation changed during the second quarter of 2020, when Greece, Spain and Portugal appeared to be affected the most compared to the situation in the fourth quarter of 2019. In the third quarter 2020, Malta became the most impacted Member State in terms of working hours in comparison with Q4 2019. Finally, comparing Q4 2020 with Q4 2019, Austria and Greece were the two Member States where the total actual hours of work decreased the most in the last three months of 2020. These results are detailed in the next section.
Focus on the quarterly changes
In this section, the changes in the total actual working hours are analysed in terms of relative change compared to the pre-COVID situation. Percentage changes (increases or decreases) in the index between Q4 2019 and a certain quarter of 2020 (Q1 2020, Q2 2020, Q3 2020 or Q4 2020, were appropriate) are presented. In previous sections, simple differences between index values were shown. Looking at a percentage change, which is the difference between the final and initial values divided by the initial value, shows how much change there has been during the period under consideration (between the initial and final value).
Austria and Greece were the most affected EU Member States in the fourth quarter of 2020
Figure 2 shows the development in terms of actual hours of work for each country for the four quarters of 2020, presenting the percentage change of each quarter compared with Q4 2019.
Firstly, the quarterly change between Q4 2019 and Q1 2020 amounted to -4.6 % at EU level, representing a significant drop in the index of total actual hours worked for all EU Member States, with Finland being an exception (quarterly change of 0.0 %). The highest decreases can be found in Italy (-10.4 %), Slovakia (-9.5 %), Austria (-7.9 %) and Greece (-7.4 %).
When comparing Q2 2020 with Q4 2019, a drop of -15.6 %, more than three times higher than the change between Q4 2019 and Q1 2020, can be seen at EU level. At country level, Greece registered the largest change (-29.3 %), followed by Spain and Portugal (both -27.8 %), Italy (-23.6 %) and Cyprus (-21.9 %).
When Q3 2020 is compared to Q4 2019, the change in the index of total actual hours of work decreased, to almost return to the level of Q1 2020. At EU level, the change recorded for Q3 2020 was -4.1 %. Nevertheless, important variations can be observed across countries. Malta (-8.8 %), Austria (-8.0 %), Greece (-7.9 %) and Portugal (-7.6 %) recorded the largest declines in the total actual hours worked (in terms of percentage change) between Q4 2019 and Q3 2020. By contrast, Finland reported no decrease in the working time (change of 0.0 %).
Finally, looking at the percentage change between Q4 2019 and Q4 2020, a drop of -4.9 % can be observed at EU level, reflecting a second decrease in Q4 2020 , although milder than in Q2 2020, for most EU countries. Over this one-year period, the six Member States that appeared the most affected by the COVID-19 crisis in terms of working hours are Austria (-11.7 %), Greece (-9.8 %), Slovakia (-8.3 %), Italy (-7.8 %), Ireland (-7.4 %) and Malta (-7.3 %). In contrast, Poland (-1.5 %), Slovenia (-1.4 %), Finland (-0.7 %), Denmark (-0.4 %) seemed to be the least affected. Luxembourg even recorded an increase between Q4 2019 and Q4 2020 in the index of total actual hours of work (+0.5 %).
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_ahw_q)
Austrian women and Maltese men the most affected when comparing Q4 2020 with Q4 2019
The change between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the fourth quarter of 2020 in the total actual hours of work is more visible at EU level for the female population than for the male population. A reduction of -5.6 % in the index of total actual hours worked was registered for women between Q4 2019 and Q4 2020, compared with -4.4 % for men. This result confirms those observed in Q1 2020 (changes between Q4 2019 and Q1 2020) and in Q2 2020 (changes between Q4 2019 and Q2 2020), where women were hit harder than men.
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_ahw_q)
Austria and Greece were the EU Member States where women were the most affected in terms of total actual working hours in Q4 2020 (compared with the pre-COVID situation in Q4 2019). They registered a decrease in their total working hours of -12.4 % and -10.4 % respectively. Their male counterparts were slightly less affected: Austrian men showed a drop of -11.2 % and Greek men a drop of -9.5 %.
The situation in Malta is worth noting with an index fall of -11.5 % for men and a index rise of +0.3 % for women. Consequently, this Member State recorded the largest gender gap (11.8 percentage points (p.p.)). Slovenia had the second largest gender gap, with 6.2 p.p., but here the male population had an index rise of +1.2 % and the female population an index fall of -5.0 %. By contrast, in Spain, men and women suffered to the same extent from the COVID-19 crisis as regards their total actual working hours, with a decrease of -6.5 % for men and -6.6 % for women in their index. Finally, Luxembourg is the only EU Member State where both the male and female population reccorded an increase in their index between Q4 2019 and Q4 2020, with an even better increase for women than for men (+0.3 % for men versus +0.9 % for women).
Source data for tables and graphs
Hours of work Q1-Q4 2020: Figures and tables
Hours of work Q1 2006 - Q4 2020: Figures and tables for video
Data sources
All figures in this article are based on seasonally adjusted quarterly results from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).
Source: The European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) is the largest European household sample survey providing quarterly and annual results on labour participation of people aged 15 and over as well as on persons outside the labour force. It covers residents in private households. Conscripts in military or community service are not included in the results. The EU-LFS is based on the same target populations and uses the same definitions in all countries, which means that the results are comparable between countries.
European aggregates: EU refers to the sum of EU-27 Member States.
Country note: In Germany, from the first quarter of 2020 onwards, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) has been integrated into the newly designed German microcensus as subsample. Unfortunately, for the LFS, technical issues and the COVID-19 crisis have had a large impact on data collection processes, resulting in low response rates and a biased sample. For this reason, the full sample of the whole microcensus have been used to estimate a restricted set of indicators for the four quarters of 2020 for the production of LFS Main Indicators. These estimates have been used for the publication of German results, but also for the calculation of EU and EA aggregates. By contrast, EU and EA aggregates published in the Detailed quarterly results (showing more and different breakdowns than the LFS Main Indicators) have been computed using only available data from the LFS subsample. As a consequence, small differences in the EU and EA aggregates in tables from both collections may be observed. For more information, see here.
Definitions: The concepts and definitions used in the Labour Force Survey follow the guidelines of the International Labour Organisation.
Five different articles on detailed technical and methodological information are available from the overview page of the online publication EU Labour Force Survey.
Context
The COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe in January and February 2020, with the first cases confirmed in Spain, France and Italy. COVID-19 infections have since been diagnosed in all European Union (EU) Member States. To fight the pandemic, EU Member States have taken a wide variety of measures. From the second week of March, most countries closed retail shops, with the exception of supermarkets, pharmacies and banks. Bars, restaurants and hotels were also closed. In Italy and Spain, non-essential production was stopped and several countries imposed regional or even national lock-down measures which further stifled economic activities in many areas. In addition, schools were closed, public events were cancelled and private gatherings (with numbers of persons varying from 2 to 50) were banned in most EU Member States.
The large majority of the prevention measures were taken during mid-March 2020, and most of the measures and restrictions in place for the whole of April and May 2020. The first quarter of 2020 was consequently the first quarter in which the labour market across the EU was affected by COVID-19 measures taken by Member States.
Employment and unemployment as defined by the ILO concept are, in this particular situation, not sufficient to describe the developments taking place in the labour market. In the first phase of the crisis, active measures to contain employment losses led to absences from work rather than dismissals, and individuals could not look for work or were not available due to the containment measures, thus not counting as unemployed.
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