What shifts did covid-19 year 2020 bring to the labour market in Europe?

Abstract

This article discusses the evolution of key labour market indicators in the EU-27 countries between 2019 and 2020, i.e. between the year before the covid-19 crisis broke out and the year in which it impacted the economy heavily. Whereas earlier studies have dealt with the evolution of unemployment in 2020, often country by country, this article focuses on describing the evolution of unemployment as well as inactivity across European countries. It appears that the Southern European countries, in particular, recorded increases in inactivity, while the Baltic States experienced higher growth in unemployment. In many other countries, unemployment and inactivity remained remarkably stable despite covid-19. The country comparison bears many similarities to that in 2009, when the Great Recession knocked back the European economy.