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Economy and Finance
  • Scientific paper

Long COVID: A Tentative Assessment of its Impact on Labour Market Participation and Potential Economic Effects in the EU

Details

Identification
Economic Brief 077
Publication date
25 January 2024
Authors
Santiago Calvo Ramos | Joana Elisa Maldonado | Anneleen Vandeplas | Istvan Vanyolos | Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs

Description

This paper provides a review of estimates of the prevalence of long COVID in the EU, and a tentative assessment of its economic impact, in particular on labour supply.

Highlights

  • The paper estimates the prevalence of long COVID cases at around 1.7% of the EU population in 2021 and 2.9% in 2022
  • This yields a negative impact on labour supply of 0.2-0.3% in 2021 and of 0.3-0.5% in 2022, combining the effect of lower productivity, higher sick leaves, lower hours, and increased unemployment or inactivity
  • These figures imply that long COVID could have caused on output loss of 0.1-0.2% in 2021 and 0.2-0.3% in 2022.
  • Available labour market data suggest a mixed picture when it comes to the impact of long COVID.

Information and identifiers

Economic Brief 077. January 2024. Brussels. PDF 28 pp. Tab. Graph. Bibliogr. Free.

KC-BE-21-014-EN-N (online)
ISBN 978-92-76-29632-4 (online)
ISSN 2443-8030 (online)
doi:10.2765/245526 (online)

JEL classification: E23, E24, I18, J01, J21, J22, O5

Disclaimer

European Economy Economic Briefs are written by the staff of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs to inform discussion on economic policy and to stimulate debate. The views expressed in this document are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of the European Commission.

Long COVID: A Tentative Assessment of its Impact on Labour Market Participation and Potential Economic Effects in the EU

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  • 25 JANUARY 2024
Long COVID: A Tentative Assessment of its Impact on Labour Market Participation and Potential Economic Effects in the EU