European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)
European Institute for Gender Equality, Gedimino pr. 16, LT-01103 Vilnius, Lithuania
+370 5 215 7444
19 October 2022
The Covid-19 survey aimed to investigate how unpaid work changed during the pandemic, its interconnections with changes in paid work and policies implemented to face the pandemic, and the implications for gender equality.
The survey data was collected via a web survey using the existing international panel platform Cint as the main resource (74.5% of the cases). Additionally, to increase the sample size in the smaller countries, other panel providers[1] were used, which have the same profiling requirements of the respondents and compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The data was collected from 28th June 2021 to 25th July 2021, and had 42,300 respondents, aged 20-64, from across all EU Member States.
The survey has been coordinated by IRS and relied on the sub-contractor SYLLA for the implementation of the survey, data collection, data cleaning, data processing, data delivery and data documentation. In total, 42.300 respondents took part in the survey.
Further information (including a technical report) about the survey can be found here: https://eige.europa.eu/about/projects/survey-gender-equality-and-socio-economic-consequences-Covid-19
The indicators are grouped into five themes, reflecting key areas covered within the survey:
The following classification systems are relevant for the Covid-19 indicators included in the Gender Statistics Database:
ISCED 2011 main levels of educational achievements (available at http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/international-standard-classification-of-education-isced-2011-en.pdf).
Sectors of economic activities used for the development of ESCO v1, which is based on NACE Revision 2. The list of the 27 sectors included can be found here: https://esco.ec.europa.eu/en/escopedia/list-sectors-economic-activities-development-esco-v1. This was used to classify which economic sector respondents’ main paid work belongs to.
NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) classification (2013), which is a hierarchical system for dividing up the economic territory of the EU and the UK. The survey sample was stratified at national level in most countries, but in the four most populated EU countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain) the sample was stratified also at NUTS 1 level (major socio-economic regions). The 2013 version of NUTS was used for this survey, which can be found here: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/nomenclatures/index.cfm?TargetUrl=LST_CLS_DLD&StrNom=NUTS_2013L&StrLanguageCode=EN&StrLayoutCode=HIERARCHIC
A number of concepts based on international standards for sociodemographic variables were used within this survey:
“Essential” occupations:
Defined in line with those considered critical in the Communication from the Commission “Guidelines concerning the exercise of the free movement of workers during Covid-19 outbreak” (EUR-Lex - 52020XC0330(03) - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu). These 17 occupations are detailed in the Covid-19 survey technical report.
Region:
The survey used NUTS level 1 to define regions (as described in the following link:
Please see the Covid-19 survey technical report for more information on regional representation.
Migration background:
In line with the European Commission’s definition of “migrant background”, this refers to a survey respondent who was born in another country and/or has a parent who was born in another country.
Educational level:
The highest educational qualification obtained (based on the ISCED 2011 classification) was used to assess educational level.
Household income level:
Self-reported by the respondent and asked in relation to deciles defined at country level in national currency, using the national decile distributions used within the European Social Survey and the European Values Study (these can be found here: https://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/docs/round9/survey/ESS9_appendix_a2_e03_0.pdf). Does not take into account the household size.
Respondents with childcare responsibilities:
Respondents who indicated that they have at least one child (aged 0-17) within their household, or who stated that they care for at least one child who does not live in their household.
Unpaid care:
This includes “activities related to caring for people and the undertaking of housework without any explicit monetary compensation by family members (parents and relatives), neighbours and/or friends. This could entail supervising activities, preparing food, cleaning, doing laundry, helping run errands or getting to appointments, and so on”.
Childcare:
Within the survey, childcare includes (among other things) assistance with school tasks and/or homeschooling.
Household chores and tasks:
This includes “shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, financial and planning tasks” under the concept of “household chores and tasks”.
The statistical units for this dataset are individuals.
The target population for this survey was the general population aged between 20 and 64 years and living in the European Union. The sample comprised approximately 1500 respondents per Member State, with a total of 42,300 respondents. The survey used quota sampling, based on a stratification approach.
EU Member States
2021
2021
All indicators are expressed as percentages (of all relevant respondents)
2021
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No direct identification of a person is possible from the indicators based on the Covid-19 survey.
One-off release, 24 October 2022
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EIGE publishes the results in its dedicated Gender Statistics Database:
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No regular news releases.
Results from the Covid-19 survey are reported within EIGE’s Gender Equality Index 2022 publication.
No micro-data are disseminated.
Not applicable.
Available upon request
Steps were taken during the collection of data to support data quality, including:
As such, no intensive data cleaning or processing were required.
This survey aimed to collect data on how paid and unpaid work changed during Covid-19, how this related to policies implemented to face the pandemic, and the implications for gender equality. As such, it is highly relevant to policy makers for understanding how gender equality in the areas of work and unpaid work was affected by the pandemic, and how such inequalities may be addressed in future policy.
No user opinions have been collected.
All EU Member States are covered.
The data are considered to be of high quality.
No information available.
No information available.
The same methodology was applied across countries, and as such the data can be considered comparable. The use of population size weights also supports cross-country comparison of results.
Not applicable.
Not relevant.
Each Covid-19 survey indicator included in the Gender Statistics Database has full internal coherence, as it is based on the same data source.
Not available
There is no fixed revision schedule.
The EIGE Covid-19 survey, conducted in 2021.
The collection of the data for the COVID-19 survey was a one-off activity.
Data validation procedures have been described at point 12 (Quality management).
Not applicable.
The data are weighted according to population size, and calibrated to align with official national statistical for key socio-demographic characteristics (sex, age group, household information, educational level, region).
Measures were taken during data analysis and while producing indicators based on the survey, including: