Job retention schemes – such as the SURE programme – supporting short-term working in the Member States were one of the main policy tools used during the Covid-19 pandemic. They made it possible to safeguard 26.9 million jobs in the EU in 2020 and 2021, while reducing inequality by 0.15 percentage points and the at-risk-of-poverty rate by 0.5 percentage points, according to a new report published on Thursday 26 September by the Eurofound - European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.
While some of these schemes expired with the end of the pandemic, others were transformed into permanent labour market institutions.
The mechanisms used in 2020 and 2021 are the result of investment initiatives by the Member States and the SURE programme (Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency), which has enabled the Commission to borrow up to €100 billion.
The report also notes that the large labour markets, particularly those of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, accounted for more than 80% of the jobs safeguarded in the EU in 2020.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/dkx (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)