EU: Fall in hours worked more visible for women in Q1

ANKARA

In the EU, a decrease in the total actual hours worked in the main job between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020 is more visible for women than for men, according to the bloc's statistical office.

The Eurostat said this decrease is -5.2% for women against -4.9% for men.

"In 17 EU Member States, women were more affected in terms of actual working hours, during the starting period of the COVID-19 crisis," it noted.

The highest decreases for women were observed in Italy (-10.3%) and Slovakia (-10.2%), followed by Greece (-8.3%), Austria (-7.8%) and Portugal (-6.3%).

Regarding men, the highest drops were seen in Italy (-9.3%) and Austria (-8.0%), followed by Hungary (-7.9%), and Malta and Slovakia (both -7.6%).

Meanwhile, in the EU, between the last quarter of last year and the first quarter of 2020, the index of total actual hours worked in the main job dropped sharply from 101.9 index points to 96.8 index points.

All member states, for which data are available, except Finland, experienced a drop in the index of total actual hours worked in the main job during the same period.

The highest decrease was observed in Italy (-9.7%), followed by Slovakia (-8.7%), and Greece and Austria (both -7.9%).

"By contrast, Finland recorded an increase of 0.2%," it added.