Could digital exclusion be associated with labour market inequality? An analysis of data from 27 European Union Member States for 2016–2025 found that, among people aged 25–54, higher rates of email non-use were associated with both higher unemployment and lower employment. However, this association became considerably less clear when alternative statistical models were applied.

Lithuanian researchers examined this relationship in the context of intersectional discrimination. The study’s lead researcher, Dr Raimonda Bublienė, a researcher at the Institute of Law at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, points out that as job searching and communication with employers become increasingly digitalised, it is important to consider not only access to technology but also whether non-use of digital tools creates additional barriers.

“Email non-use does not, in itself, tell us whether a person lacks digital skills, nor does it explain why they are unemployed. However, the observed association between email non-use and unemployment among people aged 25–54 raises the question of whether everyone retains equal opportunities to participate in the labour market as it becomes increasingly digitalised. If digital tools become a standard channel for job searching and communicating with employers, we need to pay closer attention to the barriers that may arise as a result,” says Dr Raimonda Bublienė, the study’s lead researcher and a researcher at the Institute of Law at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences.

Different Age Groups, Different Results

According to the study, a 10-percentage-point increase in the email non-use rate was associated with an average increase of 1.09 percentage points in the unemployment rate among men aged 25–54 and 1.39 percentage points among women in the same age group. This is a statistical association, but it does not, in itself, mean that email non-use causes unemployment.

A similar pattern was observed for employment. In the same age group, a 10-percentage-point increase in the email non-use rate was associated with an average decrease of 1.38 percentage points in the employment rate among men and 1.09 percentage points among women.

Among men and women aged 55–74, the estimated relationships followed a similar direction, but the evidence was insufficient to draw reliable conclusions about unemployment or employment.

When country-specific long-term trends were included in the statistical model, the association between email non-use and unemployment almost disappeared among men aged 25–54. Among women in the same age group, higher email non-use was associated with higher unemployment in the initial model, but the association became negative when the model was changed, indicating the opposite direction. These changes show that the results depend on the statistical model selected and do not support the conclusion that email non-use causes higher unemployment.

What Do These Figures Actually Show?

The study examined the proportion of the population that does not use the internet to send or receive emails. However, email non-use does not, in itself, indicate whether a person lacks digital skills, prefers other means of communication, or faces barriers to internet access.

It is also important to note that the analysis used aggregated data from 27 EU Member States rather than individual experiences. The study identifies statistical associations but does not establish causality. For example, email non-use rates in later years were also statistically associated with unemployment in earlier years. This makes it difficult to reliably determine the direction of the relationship between these factors or to rule out other possible explanations.

Thus, the findings raise the question of whether digital exclusion may be associated with labour market inequality, but this study alone cannot establish how or why such an association arises.

Intersectional Discrimination in the Digital Age

Intersectional discrimination refers to situations in which a person’s position is affected by multiple, intersecting grounds of discrimination, such as sex and age or sex and disability. Examining each factor separately may leave some forms of inequality unnoticed.

This issue is also important in European Union law. The Pay Transparency Directive recognises that sex-based discrimination may intersect with discrimination on other grounds, such as age, disability, religion or ethnic origin.

The issue is also relevant to Lithuania’s legal framework. A new version of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Equal Opportunities will enter into force in 2027, transposing into national law the provisions of the Pay Transparency Directive and the Directive on standards for equality bodies in the field of equal treatment and equal opportunities for women and men in matters of employment and occupation. Notably, the revised law will, for the first time, establish and define the concepts of “multiple discrimination”, “intersectional discrimination” and “discrimination by association”.

The study raises an important question for Lithuania and other EU Member States: could differences in digital communication be associated with unequal opportunities to obtain employment? Answering this question would require more detailed data on people’s digital skills, job-search experiences and employers’ decisions. Such data would help identify the barriers faced by people who do not use conventional digital communication tools and determine how these barriers affect different groups’ opportunities in the labour market.

The findings have been published in the peer-reviewed international journal Social Sciences in an article entitled „Intersectional Discrimination in Employment in the Digital Age: Sex, Age, Email Non-Use and Unemployment in the EU“. The authors are Raimonda Bublienė, Ingrida Mačernytė Panomariovienė and Aurelija Burinskienė.

The research was conducted as part of the MEDALIC project (“Multiple Discrimination and Labour Income: A Comparative Analysis of Legal Regulations in European Countries”), funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (agreement No. S-PD-24-155).

Read the article: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/15/9/638.

Prepared by Dr Raimonda Bublienė,
Research Fellow at the Institute of Law, Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences.
Media enquiries: raimonda.bubliene@lcss.lt | +370 5 210 1672