Occupational inequalities during the pandemic: epidemiological evidence

Abstract

COVID-19 infection risks at work as well as psychosocial risks following the fundamental changes in the economy during the pandemic were equally distributed across the workforce. Obviously, certain occupations (e.g. health care) had particular high health risks but apart from that it has also been hypothesised that workers in precarious employment or with low occupational positions are also disproportionally affected. This contribution summarizes the epidemiological evidence on the association between occupational inequalities and COVID-19 related burden of disease. It will also comment on the possible mechanisms linking different aspects of precarious work with health during the pandemic - including social protection and occupational safety and health policies at the company level. The presentation relies on an unsystematic literature review conducted in Spring 2021 and on the results of statistical analyses of different datasets including hospitalisation data, official data on COVID-19 cases and a large German cohort study. Briefly, preliminary results suggest occupational inequalities in a) infection risks, b) risk of severe disease in COVID-19 patients, and c) non-COVID-19 outcomes such as depression or anxiety. It has to be noted, howewer, that the number of empirical studies on that issue is surprisingly low - in particular in regard to direct infection risks. The reasons for this lack of data and the possible implications for a timely policy responses have to be discussed.