In Europe, Covid has hit the automotive, aerospace, textile, catering and construction sectors hard, while sectors such as the healthcare and food industries have emerged unscathed if not even strengthened. It is the x-ray of the study of the impact of the pandemic on industries requested by the European Parliament's Industry Committee.
The heaviest impact was on theautomotive industry which in the first half of 2020 in the EU suffered production losses of 3,6 million vehicles, reflecting a loss of €100 billion. The pandemic affected more than 1,1 million jobs directly as a result of plant closures between March and May. The number of people actively working in the factories has been significantly reduced. In addition to the laid-off workers, many have been rehired on short-term contracts.
In all EU Member States, car factories were closed for an average of 30 days, with the shortest downtime in Sweden (15 days) and the longest in Italy (41 days). Longer closure motivated by us - they explain to Fiom CGIL - by two factors: 1) the coincidence with the dcpm on the lockdown which included the auto sector among non-essential activities, and therefore the closure of all production plants and 2) the policy of worker health protection. Another heavily affected sector is that aerospace. Between January and June 2020, the number of aircraft on the ground in Europe overall increased by 80% compared to the previous year, making Europe the worst trending region worldwide.
In 2020, around 191 direct jobs were lost for the entire European industry, a total of 56,2 billion euros of net losses for airlines, airports and air navigation service providers. Due to the closure of shops and a block on imports of raw materials, another sector affected is that textile: Manufacturing and retail sales decreased by 15% and 9,4% for apparel and by 7% and 9,7% for textiles, respectively. Overall industry revenue is expected to recover around 15% this year (with a potential recovery in consumer spending), but is not expected to return to pre-crisis levels until Q2023 XNUMX, assuming a progressive easing of the health emergency and substantial measures to support the economy. Obviously down also the sector tourist-hotel, due to the structures that had to close their doors due to decisions of the local and national authorities.
Difficulties also for the sector building. The situation in the EU is very diverse. In some Member States it was possible to continue the activity more or less as before (for example in Germany), while in some countries (such as Italy, Spain, Slovakia, Ireland or France) the activities of the construction sector were severely limited. According to forecasts, the recovery will begin as early as this year. However, a full recovery to pre-crisis 2019 levels will take until 2023. The pandemic has not spared the chemical production: between January and June 2020 in the EU27 it decreased by 5,2% compared to the levels of the previous year.
With -4,8% the industry digital it is among the sectors that recorded the smallest decrease compared to the previous year. Healthcare and food industry instead they seem to have benefited from the situation. Although the healthcare sector has not escaped the negative impact of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the negative externalities have not spread throughout the sector. Between machinery manufacturing, protective material and pharmaceuticals, the retail sales of pharmaceuticals increased by 2020% in September 12 compared to April. The food sector was the most successful in retailing and even increased employment year-on-year by 2,4%. An increase in sales linked to the change in consumer behavior, who have stopped eating out. In short, food retailers have been able to adapt to the evolution of demand, particularly in the case of large-scale distribution,
