The Office for National Statistics has published a report on Coronavirus and anxiety in Great Britain. The number of people reporting high levels of anxiety has sharply elevated during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report looks at which socio-demographic and economic factors were most associated with high levels of anxiety during the first weeks of lockdown. With regard to work, the report states that ‘Almost 20 million adults said that their work had been affected by the coronavirus, with over 1 in 10 (13.4%) saying that that work was their biggest concern. People’s working lives have been affected in a range of ways by the pandemic; of those reporting high anxiety, over 1 in 5 said that their work had been affected by being asked to work from home and they were finding working from home difficult, between 10 April and 3 May 20201. Additionally, almost 22% of respondents said work had been affected by being furloughed, in the same period. ‘ Further analysis on the relationship between the effect on work and anxiety will be explored in upcoming releases of this publication.
