During the COVID-19 pandemic, EU Member States ensured that sectors and occupations classified as essential continued to provide the goods and services necessary for maintaining basic economic, social and health facilities.

Frontline workers in these sectors and occupations were exempted from confinement measures and movement restrictions and often had to work in face-to-face situations.

It’s time to reevaluate them.

The study explores the working conditions and risks faced by essential frontline workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on women and migrant workers in low-paid frontline occupations.

The study also provides an overview of the main legislative and policy measures adopted at EU and national level to support essential workers in order to identify possible policy actions to reevaluate these occupations.

The analysis is based on the triangulation of data and information resulting from a review of academic literature and policy documents and from field work, including semi-structured interviews and a web survey targeted at EU and national stakeholders, and five country case studies (Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Romania).