The Impact of the Pandemic on the Participation in the Labour Market of Vulnerable Groups: Women, Young People, the Elderly and Self-Employed Workers

This chapter aims to highlight and analyse the changes in the Romanian labour market situation of four vulnerable categories (women, young people, the elderly and self-employed workers), as a result of the pandemic crisis generated by COVID-19, compared to the pre-pandemic period. The analysis was carried out under two main aspects: the first aspect covers the period 2019–2020, in order to identify the initial changes in the situation of vulnerable groups on the labour market, as an immediate effect of the outbreak of the pandemic, as well as an estimate of the evolution of labour indicators for the next 2 years. The second aspect aims to compare the estimates made with the real evolution of the same indicators for the years 2021 and 2022, in order to highlight the final impact of the pandemic crisis on the labour market situation of the four vulnerable groups. The changes in the labour market were captured by using absolute and relative indicators of employment and unemployment, structured by socio-demographic characteristics (age, education, gender), but also by a series of variables related to the type of employment and work regime (work schedule, type of ownership, activity sector, work type, major occupational groups, employment status).