CSO ‘Employment and Life Effects of COVID-19’ Release
On May 13th, 2020 the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published a release entitled ‘Employment and Life Effects of COVID-19’. As part of the Q2 Labour Force Survey, the release refers to data collected from 2,288 responses from Irish households between April 8th and 23rd, 2020. The release refers to data on changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic to employment and other areas of day-to-day life including emotional wellbeing and the impacts on finances and families. This article discusses the data collected with an emphasis on employment/work-related areas.
According to the release, 47% of respondents aged 15 and over have had their employment affected by COVID-19. These effects are various including changes in work hours, temporary layoff, loss of employment, remote working from home, and change to business model of employer.
The age group of 35-44 year olds were impacted more heavily by employment effects, with two-thirds reporting employment effects, whereas 15-24 year olds and over 65s were the lowest affected ages groups.
There were also differences in affected groups according to region, with higher rates of employment affected respondents in the Eastern and Midlands regions at 51%, and Northern, Western and Southern regions at a lower rate of 44%.
Employment effects
Employment effects discussed in the release are detailed here according to effect.
Loss of employment:
- 14% of employment affected persons experienced loss of employment, with levels equal for both men and women
- 15-24 year olds experienced higher rates of employment loss at 22%
- The age groups least affected by this were 35-44 (10%) and 65+ (9%)
- The Southern regions were most affected by loss of employment
Temporary layoff:
- 33% of employment affected persons were temporarily laid-off, with levels higher for men (36%) than women (31%)
- The 15-24 age group was most affected with 46% experiencing layoff
- The lowest affected age group was 45-54 year olds with a rate of 26%.
- The Southern regions were most affected by temporary layoffs.
Increase in remote working from home:
- Of the 47% of employment-affected persons, 34% began working from home and 12% increased their hours working remotely.
- In terms of people being unable to work from home, 11% couldn’t work remotely because their business was unable to offer it as an option, and 20% couldn’t because their work wasn’t suitable for remote working.
- The age group that used remote working as a result of COVID-19 the most was 35-44 year olds.
- At 39%, the Eastern and Midland region had the most people working remotely as a response to COVID -19.
Unpaid and paid leave:
- 4% of employment-affected persons had to take paid leave, while almost double his figure, 7% were forced to take unpaid leave.
- Higher rates of unpaid leave rather than paid leave were reflected across genders, all age groups and regions.
- Higher rates of males than females had to take leave (paid or unpaid.)
- 13% of 55-64 year olds took unpaid leave, and 6% of this age group took paid leave, making this the cohort with the highest leave percentages.
- 23% of persons whose employment was affected had changes to their work hours, with 65+ year olds experiencing the highest rate at 28%.
- 5% of employment-affected persons changed their business model to online or takeaway, with the 45-54 year old age group experiencing the highest rate at 9%.
- A very high number, 94%, of those whose employment was affected in terms of losing their job, being temporarily laid-off or taking leave expect to return to the same job after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. 5% do not expect to return to work.
- In terms of age groups, high numbers across all age groups expect to return to work, with the low end of the spectrum at 90% for 25-34 year olds, and 97% for 55-64 year olds at the high end.
Other life effects:
Working from home difficulties:
- 22% of 35-44 year olds experienced difficulties in working from home with family around, with a decline in experiencing this life effect in older age groups.
- Higher levels of females (11%) than males (9%) experienced this.
Concern about lack of paid work:
- The unavailability of paid work was a greater concern among younger age groups, with over a fifth, 21%, of 15-24 year olds and 18% of 25-34 year olds experiencing this concern.
- Concern about paid work was lowest among the 65+ age group at 5%.
- Higher rates of males than females experienced this life effect (18% vs. 13%)
From this release we can see the huge impact the COVID-19 has had on employment in Ireland, but a high expectation across all age groups, genders and regions of returning to work is cause for optimism.
For a fuller picture of the statistics used in this release, see the Background Notes section of the release at the bottom of the page: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/elec19/employmentandlifeeffectsofcovid-19/#BGN