On March 14, 2020 the Spanish central government declared a state of alarm due to the worsening of the covid-19 pandemic. With this declaration, mobility restrictions were imposed across the entire territory, schools and universities were closed, and the population was confined. All in-person economic activity was temporarily shut down, except for essential activities (food stores, petrol stations, pharmacies…). The state of alarm was lifted on June 21, as the number of cases had decreased. A second state of alarm was declared on October 24, 2020. It mainly limits mobility and allows regional governments to impose overnight curfews.

The Living and Working in Coronavirus Survey (LWCV) was launched on March 23, 2020 to collect information about the effects of the pandemic on people’s lives. The LWCV is accessible through the WageIndicator websites in 143 countries and promoted via social media and press releases. It will continue as long as the pandemic lasts. During the period of analysis, a total of 4,683 respondents completed the questionnaire for Spain: 424 questionnaires during the first state of alarm, 2,017 during the second (through December 2020), and the rest in the period between them.

Poor health and job loss are the variables most closely linked to life dissatisfaction for the Spanish population during the pandemic. Poor health refers to self-perceived general health. It does not refer to suffering symptoms such as fever, coughing, breathing difficulties or diarrhoea, which did not have any significant link to life dissatisfaction. Similarly, having oneself suffered from covid-19 or having family members or colleagues infected had no association with life dissatisfaction.

Two other important factors linked to people’s life dissatisfaction during this period were loneliness and reduced income due to covid-19. On average, people who had lost their job scored 0.7 points higher for life dissatisfaction than those who kept their job. By the same token, people experiencing an income reduction scored 0.3 points higher than people not experiencing an income reduction.

Results also indicate that having attended university, keeping one’s job, living with a partner and conducting daily exercise were linked to lower levels of dissatisfaction. However, having a dog was not.

Older people’s greater life satisfaction was well documented in the research literature before covid-19. It is remarkable that this relationship holds during covid-19, because older people are among the most vulnerable.  

Across all ages, individuals who lost their job reported higher levels of dissatisfaction than those who were still employed. The highest gap in dissatisfaction between those with and without a job occurred for the 35-44 age group. People between 35 and 44 years old who lost their job due to the pandemic were on average 1.5 points more dissatisfied than those who kept their job. This gap might be explained by the financial and family responsibilities that people in this age group tend to have.

Poor health, along with suffering symptoms such as fever, coughing, breathing difficulties and diarrhoea, was linked to higher incidence of anxiety and/or depression. People who lost their job or had their income reduced were more likely to suffer from anxiety and/or depression. Having a job, even with a permanent contract, was not linked to reduced anxiety. Among those with a job, both increases and decreases in workload were linked to greater anxiety. An increase in workload may be related to greater work-related stress due to anti-coronavirus measures. A decrease in workload may be related to perceptions of the risk of future job loss. 

Women and people experiencing loneliness were more likely to suffer from anxiety and/or depression. As shown in the previous section, although having a partner was linked to greater life satisfaction, it was also linked to greater anxiety. Having a dog was also linked to greater anxiety. Neither age nor education was significant.  

Daily exercise was linked to a lower incidence of anxiety and depression.

The covid-19 pandemic has turned people’s daily lives completely upside down: from the way we work, study and shop to our social relations. This article has analysed how the pandemic and its economic consequences are linked to Spanish respondents’ life dissatisfaction and feelings of anxiety and depression. 

The results from this exploratory study indicate that life dissatisfaction is associated with individuals’ economic problems, while anxiety and depression are associated with health problems. The study confirms the well-known importance of sport activity for mental wellbeing. Overall, the results point to a major challenge for policymaking in the near future: addressing the pandemic’s effects on wellbeing and mental health.

The LWCV survey is a voluntary web-based survey. A drawback of this type of survey is that certain groups, such as more highly educated people and those living in cities, are more likely to participate. Comparison with the Spanish Labour Force Survey (Encuesta de Población Activa, EPA) shows that in our data women are over-represented (68% LWCV vs. 52% EPA), while the age group <25 is under-represented (11% in LWCV vs. 24% EPA). EPA data have been used to correct this skewing.

BLANCHFLOWER, D.G. (2020): «Is happiness U-shaped everywhere? Age and subjective well-being in 145 countries», GLO Discussion Paper, 530, Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen.

INE (2020):  Active Population Survey 3rd Quarter Microdata. 

WAGE INDICATOR FOUNDATION: Living and working in times of the coronavirus.