30.09.2022

EMPLOYMENT INCOME IN THE EU IS APPROACHING PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS

Last year, the average disposable income of households in the European Union increased by 3.6 percent compared to 2020. Employment income has increased sharply across all quintiles (parts) of the population, but remains, albeit slightly, below pre-pandemic levels, while the at-risk-of-poverty ratio remains flat. This is indicated by the early estimates of the European statistical agency Eurostat, published today on its website.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a significant reduction in economic activity, with some business sectors temporarily closed, leading to an unprecedented increase in absentee or part-time workers. As a result, employees suffered losses in their employment income and governments were forced to introduce temporary support schemes to offset the impact of a crisis.

Early projections for 2021 show positive developments in the income distribution and significant growth for low-income households. This is in line with the main trends in the labor market and the significant reduction in the number of workers affected by the temporary disease control measures. In addition, social protection schemes aimed at stabilizing wages and household income continued to be implemented in many Member States.

The at-risk-of-poverty ratio remains unchanged

The level of at-risk-of-poverty in the EU has maintained its values ​​in 2021, but the situation varies across member states, especially when cumulative effects are assessed, says Eurostat's early assessment.

In 2021, 95.4 million people in the European Union, equivalent to 21.7 percent of its population, were at risk of poverty and social exclusion, Eurostat previously informed.

This means that these people were exposed to at least one of the three social risks associated with poverty and social exclusion - they were at risk of poverty, severe material and social deprivation or lived in a household with very low economic activity (people of working age in this household worked 20 percent or less of the normal number of working hours), the EU statistics office notes.

Bulgaria ranks second among the EU countries in terms of this indicator. Last year, 32 percent of the people in our country were exposed to the risk of poverty and social exclusion, Eurostat data showed earlier this month.

Compared to pre-pandemic 2019, in 2021 among the Union countries for which data are available, 5 registered an increase in the poverty level, of which 4 were statistically significant: Greece, Croatia, Latvia and the Netherlands.

In 11 EU countries, the poverty level is unchanged, and in another 7 it has decreased: Finland, Cyprus, Germany, Lithuania, Romania, Sweden and Bulgaria.