European Foundation
for the Improvement of
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The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist
in the development of better social, employment and
work-related policies

COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch

Database of national-level responses

Eurofound's COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the crisis, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.

Overview

COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch currently contains 1180 measures introduced by governments and social partners to cushion the social and economic effects on businesses, workers and citizens.

Use the side navigation to find measures by country, type of measure, category, or target group.

Categories

Target groups

The database indicates for each measure to which target groups it applies, broadly differentiating between workers, businesses and citizens.

The database contains 42 specific target groups, including for example:

Recently updated measures

Partial reimbursement of the minimum wage increase

The Act Amending the Minimum Wage Act (ZMinP-B), entered into force on 1 January 2021, brought about a new formula for the minimum wage, a 20% increase above the minimum living costs. Consequently, th...

Slovenia | 24 February 2021

Subsidies for short-time work

On 30 May 2020, the government issued the third COVID-19 Law (Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Mitigate and Remedy the Consequences of the COVID-19 Epidemic, ZIUOOPE). Among many provisio...

Slovenia | 24 February 2021

COVID-19 agreement covering workers employed by German Rail (DB) Deutsche Bahn (and collective bargaining

German Rail (Deutsche Bahn, DB) is severely affected by the society-wide practice of social distancing that the German government encourage in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For DB, the pandemic m...

Germany | 24 February 2021

Involvement of social partners in legislation

Eurofound identified 759 legislations and other statutory regulations, 452 of which have been created entirely new in the context of COVID-19. This section gives an overview of social partner's involvement in designing and implementing these measures.

Role of employers' organisations in designing the measure

  • In 422 measures, employers' organisations were involved:
  • In 195 measures, there was no involvement;
  • For the 142 remaining measures the involvement is unknown, or they were considered as being out of the social partner's domain.

Role of trade unions in designing the measure

  • In 398 measures, trade unions were involved:
  • In 199 measures, there was no involvement;
  • For the 162 remaining measures the involvement is unknown, or they were considered as being out of the social partner's domain.

Implementation, monitoring and assessment phase

  • In 136 measures, social partners were involved:
  • In the remaining 623 measures, there was no involvement or the involvement is unknown.

Collective agreements

The COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch database contains 99 collective agreements. Most of them were identified in France and the most commonly found provisions relate to employment retention, income protection, and health and safety.

Contents

22 agreements additionally contain other provisions not mentioned above.

    • Fourth tripartite agreement in defense of employment

      On 19 January 2021, the IV Social Agreement in Defense of Employment was reached, whose content reflects precisely the trust between social partners and the government in the measures that, since 1 Oc...

      Spain | 09 February 2021

      General collective agreement Corona test

      Due to stagnating numbers in Corona infections amid a lock-down and the first appearances of potentially more infectious virus mutants in Austria, stricter measures were agreed upon by the federal gov...

      Austria | 27 January 2021

      Collective agreement signed in the police sector

      On 7 December 2020, the Enforcement Officers Federation of Lithuania (LTPF) and police trade unions represented by it signed a sectoral collective agreement with the Police Department (PD). The collec...

      Lithuania | 12 January 2021

Social partner initiatives

The COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch database contains 71 social partner initiatives. Most of them were identified in Germany and belong to the category Protection of workers, adaptation of workplace.

Main themes

Company practices

The COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch database contains 130 company practices. Most of them were identified in Germany and the most commonly found provisions relate to health and safety, work organisation, and telework.

Contents

33 company practices additionally contain other provisions not mentioned above.

Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process. All information is preliminary and subject to change.