The decline in passengers in air transport as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic had a pronounced effect on younger workers due to staff reductions by airlines and associated enterprises, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Union.
In the first quarter of 2022, 325,600 people were employed in the air transport sector in the EU. This is the lowest number recorded in 14 years.
This decrease can be attributed to workers between the ages of 15 and 39 (from 204,400 in Q1 2008, to 121,400 in Q1 2022, a reduction of 83,000 persons).
At the same time, there was a smaller increase in workers between 40 and 64 years old (from 170,500 to 204,200, an increase of 33,700 workers).
The pattern was similar when comparing the pre-pandemic first quarter of 2019 with the first quarter of 2022. While there was a large decrease in workers aged between 15 and 39 (from 184,900 to 121,400, a decrease of 63,500), there was a far smaller decrease in workers between the ages of 40 and 64 (from 225,500 to 204,200, a decrease of 21,300).
Men made up 58% of the work force in the first quarter of 2022. This same balance was also recorded in the first quarter of 2008. The share of men in air transport was rather stable over time.
However, while total employment in air transport in the EU decreased for both men and women during the pandemic, men were the first impacted in the second quarter of 2020, leading to a share of men equal to 53% in the second quarter of 2020. Then, in the third and fourth quarters of 2020, women were the most affected by the pandemic.
Over the whole period between the first quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2022, men made up 60% of the decrease (a decrease 33,800 for women compared with a decrease of 50,900 for men).
Source: Cyprus News Agency