"The decline in employment was strongest for temporary employees, the youngest and low-educated workers" until June 2020, the period of biggest impact of the covid-19 pandemic, can be read in an article published by the ECB in its Economic Bulletin.

According to the document, the employment "of workers with a high level of education was practically unaffected by the pandemic, while workers with a low level of education saw a decline in their employment".

"Similarly, young workers have been disproportionately affected when compared to older workers. Employment has also declined more for women than for men, although the difference is relatively small", read the article written by economists Robert Anderton, Vasco Botelho, Agostino Consolo, António Dias da Silva, Claudia Foroni, Matthias Mohr and Lara Vivian.

In the graphs present in the document, it can be seen that compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, in terms of the level of education of workers, those with a low level fell by more than 7 percent, those with an average higher than 4 percent, with education level slightly increased employment, but below 1 percent.

In the same period, the impact of the drop in employment was most notorious in young people between 15 and 24 years old (over 12percent), followed by the age group between 25 and 49 years old (almost 4 percent) and between 50 and 74 years old ( less than 1 percent).

By type of employment, temporary workers saw their employment reduced by almost 18 percent, while employed persons saw it reduced by 4 percent and self-employed workers saw it drop by less than 1 percent.

In total, the ECB reports that "there were 5.2 million fewer people employed in the second quarter of 2020 than at the end of 2019, a drop of 3.2 percent".