Romanians use teleworking less than other Europeans

The number of employees working from home varies in the EU countries, according to a Central European Bank’s report on the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market. However, it is noted that the crisis prompted by the pandemic can accelerate teleworking and can reduce digital gaps between the EU states if they invest a lot in the digital technologies.

According to the ECB, the share of employees working from home in the EU exceeds 50% in some regions in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Sweden, and only 20% in other regions from Spain, Greece and Romania.

At the same time, the number of employees working from home is regularly or occasionally different depending on the region, with a 70pc in Stockholm, 45% in Paris, and only 10% in Italy.

Teleworking targeted 33% of employees in 2019, but less than 10pc of them admitted they were frequently or rarely doing, which means 3.3% of the workers.

“This changed due to the pandemic and the lockdown , with over one third of Europeans starting to work from home,” the ECB economists say.

The report also found out that teleworking was predominant in the case of well-paid jobs, mostly targeting those activating in the banking sector, in IT and communications and a great part of managers and experts.