The Commission has published its second report on the impact of its Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency programme (SURE), the €100 billion instrument designed to protect jobs and incomes affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report finds that SURE has been successful in cushioning the severe socio-economic impact resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
National labour market measures supported by SURE are estimated to have reduced unemployment by almost 1.5 million people in 2020. SURE has helped to effectively contain the increase in unemployment in the beneficiary Member States during the crisis. Thanks to SURE and other support measures, this increase in unemployment has turned out to be significantly smaller than during the global financial crisis, despite the much larger fall in GDP. A total of €94.3 billion of financial assistance has so far been approved to 19 Member States, of which €89.6 billion has been disbursed.
A full press release is available here.