COVID-19 and Well-being
Life in the Pandemic
COVID-19 and Well-being: Life in the Pandemic explores the immediate implications of the pandemic for people’s lives and livelihoods in OECD countries. The report charts the course of well-being – from jobs and incomes through to social connections, health, work-life balance, safety and more – using data collected during the first 12-15 months of the pandemic. It also takes stock of what has happened to human, economic, social and natural capital that, beyond their effects on people’s lives today, shape living conditions for years to come. It shows how COVID-19 has had far-reaching consequences for how we live, work and connect with one another, and how experiences of the pandemic varied widely, depending on whether and where people work, their gender, age, race and ethnicity, education and income levels. The report also examines the role that well-being evidence can play in supporting governments’ pandemic recovery efforts. It argues that a well-being lens can prompt policy-makers to refocus on the outcomes that matter the most to people, to redesign policy content from a more multidimensional perspective, to realign policy practice across government silos, and to reconnect people with the public institutions that serve them.
Also available in: French
Inclusion, community relations and COVID-19
While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way almost everyone connects with each other, spends their time, relates to society and experiences safety, some groups have suffered more than others. Those with financial difficulties, the unemployed, women and people without university education felt particularly lonely in 2020, as did younger people and those living alone. Apart from the youngest age group, these characteristics were already risk factors for well-being pre-COVID, but absolute gaps widened for vulnerable groups since then. Similar patterns can be observed for feeling left out of society. Both men and women experienced an increase in the burden of unpaid domestic work and care for children (or other family members), but most of this additional burden still fell on women. Women have also been affected by increases in domestic violence.
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