"The COVID-19 pandemic, which fully impacted European countries in early March 2020, required the prompt implementation of a wide range of measures that led to dramatic lifestyle changes, including the reorganisation of the work activities of most people. Even during the first lockdown period, it was clear that this large-scale societal change would need to be empirically monitored and assessed, and that the social sciences, including economics, sociology, demography and psychology, had the potential to offer important decision-making information for a number of actors (such as governments, social partners, non-profit organisations, educational institutions and health facilities). As a number of national representative surveys indicated, only a minority of the EU population remained in the same working regime as previously (unchanged working hours, in the same job positions and with the same remuneration as before the pandemic). In 2020, the loss of employment, short-time work (STW) schemes, changing professions, restrictions on business activities, teleworking, the structural incompatibility of labour market supply and demand, and the loss of institutional support for families with children led to both work uncertainty and overall insecurity for a large part of the population. In addition, social inequalities were exacerbated. Research has also suggested a rise in stress and mental health problems, particularly among the most affected groups in society. Conversely, a relatively large group of people have benefited from the changes in the form of enhanced levels of life and job satisfaction and the overall readjustment of life priorities. The national representative surveys suggest that the negative effects of the pandemic have impacted on the EU countries to varying degrees."

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