Abstract
During the Covid-19 pandemic, some occupations have ensured basic functions in Germany’s economy and society. Although now recognised as “essential”, these heterogeneous occupations had so far hardly been analysed as a group. New research at the IAB and the European University Institute characterises working conditions in Germany’s essential occupations and finds that most of these jobs have relatively good working conditions. Yet a substantial share of jobs has bad working conditions, and here migrants are overrepresented.