by Ekaterina Bobrovnikova, Vaida Gineikytė-Kanclerė, Luka Klimavičiūtė, Ellen Rahm, Marco Schito, Gabija Skardžiūtė, Eszter Sándor
The COVID-19 pandemic had varying impacts on social groups, depending on existing disadvantages, and it was widely believed that it triggered a rise in inequalities across different areas of life. Using indicators from the EU’s Multidimensional Inequality Monitoring Framework (MIMF), this report shows how inequality in the spheres of income, health, employment and education changed between 2010 and 2020. It also examines the main drivers of this change during the pandemic and explores the relationships between government policies in several domains and inequality.
- The first year of the COVID-19 crisis saw the fall in income inequality continue, confirming a levelling of inequality in the EU. However, those seeking work and people with low and medium education levels were most likely to experience a drop in income during the pandemic, highlighting that although income inequality overall may not have increased during COVID-19, it will be critical for policymakers to monitor this closely in the current cost-of-living crisis.
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- Health and income inequality are closely linked, with people in the lowest income quintile almost three times as likely to have a disability as people in the top 20%. During the pandemic, inequality in access to health services by income also increased: in 2020, the risk of having an unmet medical need for people in the lowest income quintile was 5.4 times higher than those in the top 20%, highlighting how policies focusing on reducing income inequalities can also reduce health inequalities.
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- Findings reveal that working from home during the pandemic may have created inequalities between low- and high-income groups, where temporary workers, young people and those in precarious employment emerged as more vulnerable to crises. To ensure this does not continue in the increasingly flexible world of work post-COVID, it will be crucial for policymakers to tackle precarious work and increase the transparency and predictability of working conditions.
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- During the pandemic, having adequate equipment to carry out online learning was more important than income, highlighting the importance of tackling the digital divide and access to technology for all over the long term. Parents and students living in rural areas, not needing to commute during this period, were also more likely to be satisfied with the quality of online schooling or education than those living in cities.
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- The ability to work from home created inequalities between low- and high-income groups, accentuating gender inequality in childcare and housework. In 2020, single mothers were most likely to reduce their working hours due to the closure of schools and childcare facilities – if women continue to work more hours of unpaid care than men, this may potentially widen the gender wage gap during recovery.
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