Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Unit F3: Labour market and lifelong learning
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
15 May 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
15 May 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
15 May 2025
3.1. Data description
The duration of working life indicator (DWL) measures the number of years a person aged 15 is expected to be active in the labour market throughout their life.
This indicator has been developed and produced for analysis and monitoring under the Europe 2020 employment strategy. The indicator should complement other indicators by focussing on the entire life cycle of persons in labour force and persons in employment rather than on specific states in the life cycle, such as youth unemployment or early withdrawal from the labour force. The development of life course policies is important in order to achieve more flexibility in the working life according to different stages of the life cycle.
This indicator is derived from demographic data (life tables published in Eurostat online dataset demo_mlifetable) and labour market data (labour force participation rates defined as in the online dataset lfsi_emp_a but with unpublished detail by single age groups).
The DWL indicator measures the number of years a person at a given age is expected to be in labour force. In principle it can be calculated for any age x as the number of years a person at a given age x is expected to be in labour force. In that case it is defined as:
(1) dx = Tax / lx
with
(2) Tax = Sumzy=0 (Lay) sum of expected years in labour force at age x
and
(3) Lax= Lx. rx average number of persons in labour force at age x
and with
lx: Number of survivors at the beginning of an age interval
Lx : Number of person years living between x and x+1
Lax : Average number of persons in labour force at age x
rx : Labour force paricipation rate at age x (0 ≤ rx ≤ 1). The labour force participation rate is the labour force divided by the total population at each age and gender. The labour force comprises employed and unemployed persons.
Tax : Sum of working years expected at age x
x : Minimum age
z : Maximum age
The age z can be considered as the age beyond which workers end to perform remunerated activities on a regular basis, while the age x can be considered as the age at which most young people are likely to become engaged to the labour market. For the purpose of the DWL indicator these thresholds are set at 15 and 99 years of age.
The formulas above are used to calculate the DWL of men and women in each country. The DWL for the total men + women population is calculated as a weighted average of the DWL of men and women, using as weighting coefficients the population aged 15 of each sex. The DWL for the European aggregates are also calculated as weighted averages of the DWL for the Member States, using as weighting coefficients the population aged 15.
The two data sources used are:
Life tables available from Eurostat to calculate the survival functions
European Union Labour force survey (EU-LFS) labour force participation rates by single age group
For further details see attachment in section 'Annexes'.
3.5. Statistical unit
For demographic data: individuals
For labour force survey data: individuals living in private households
3.6. Statistical population
The EU-LFS results cover the total population usually residing in Member States, except for persons living in collective or institutional households. While demographic data are gathered for all age groups, questions relating to labour force status are restricted to persons in the age group of 15 years and over. In the EFTA countries participating in EU-LFS, i.e. Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, population data are not provided for the age-groups outside the scope of labour force status questions. The EU-LFS covers all economic activities and occupations.
For demographic data, the reference period is the calendar year.
The EU-LFS is designed as a continuous quarterly survey with interviews spread uniformly over all weeks of a quarter. The reference week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. By convention, the first week of the year is the week including the first Thursday, and the 1st reference quarter consists of 13 consecutive weeks starting from that week. Specific rules are foreseen in case of a quarter with 14 weeks. A similar Thursday rule is applied to months in order to derive the reference month. All reference weeks (13 in general) are basically assigned to define the reference quarter according to this rule as well.
Annual data encompass the four reference quarters in the year.
Before early 2000s the EU-LFS was conducted annually in spring, rather than quarterly. Spring was considered a period representative of the labour situation in the whole year. The changeover from an annual survey to a continuous, quarterly survey took place between 1998 and 2004, depending on the Member State. For more information on the transition to a quarterly continuous survey, please consult: EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Development and history.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The EU-LFS is based on European legislation since 1973. Its implementation is governed by legislative acts of the Council and Parliament, as well as of the Commission. The principal legal act is the Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, also called the Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation (IESS FR), and its Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240, which came into force on 1 January 2021.
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
For demographic data, there are no special provisions for confidentiality in data treatment because no individual data are treated.
In line with the EU legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see section 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
Estimates are calculated once a year. The estimates for year Y are released in spring of year Y+1. The data available at that time are the EU-LFS data for year Y and the life tables for year Y-1. The calculation uses the life tables for Y-1 as a proxy for the life tables for year Y.
Eurostat also produces tailor-made tables not available online at the request of users (please refer to Eurostat user support).
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not applicable.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
The methodology used for this DWL indicator follows the research work of Hytti H. and I. Nio (2004), ‘Monitoring the employment strategy and the duration of active working life’, Social security and health research: working papers 38, Finnish Ministry of Labour, see the annex below.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Regarding demographic data, no quality documentation are available.
The DWL indicators provide sufficiently accurate and easily understandable results. They:
are highly stable over time, even for single ages
show great continuity over the lifespan
react directly to changes of labour force participation rates
and reveal the expected differences between gender, ages and countries
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Relevance is high. Indicator DWL is produced at the request of the Employment Committee indicators group for the Joint Assessment Framewok.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
The indicator is estimated explicitly to meet the request of the Employment Committee, as regards model used, timeliness of publication, breakdowns available, lenght of time series, etc.
12.3. Completeness
As life tables and LFS data are needed for the production of the DWL indicator, completeness of the dataset is limited to the data availability from both sources.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Not assessed.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
The DWL for year Y is first published in spring Y+1.
14.2. Punctuality
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Regarding demographic data, Eurostat requests to all countries demographic statistics based on the concept of usual resident population.
Regarding EU-LFS data, comparability across countries is considered as high and is achieved through various regulations ensuring harmonisation of concepts, definitions and methodologies.
All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data. Reported errors that are deemed to be significant are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated. Corrections for other errors are carried out in connection with the regular scheduled data dissemination.
Data are only published once they are deemed to be sufficiently complete for all data providers contributing to the aggregate.
Whenever new data are provided and validated, the already disseminated data are updated with next regular production cycle. New data are only used to update disseminated data in the case of reported errors, or in exceptional situations, such as after new population estimates have been defined based on a population census.
Annual data are updated with the same periodicity as quarterly data.
As explained above, the DWL indicator combines demographic data from life tables with EU-LFS data.
As regards the life tables, data are collected by Eurostat from the National Statistical Institutes and they are based on administrative data sources.
As regards the EU Labour Force Survey, for more information please consult the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage. The labour force participation rates taken into consideration are the average over four quarterly observed rates in the year considered.
The Labour Force Survey is a rotating random sample survey of persons in private households.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data for life tables are collected annually.
Data for EU-LFS are collected quarterly. For the purpose of the DWL calculation, quarterly results are averaged throughout the year.
18.3. Data collection
The indicator DWL uses data collected for demographic statistics (life tables) and EU-LFS. See the metadata for table demo_mlifetable (demo_mor) and the main indicators lfsi.
18.4. Data validation
See the metadata for table demo_mlifetable (demo_mor) and the main indicators lfsi.
18.5. Data compilation
See the metadata for table demo_mlifetable (demo_mor) and the main indicators lfsi.
18.6. Adjustment
The model described in section 3.4. is very sensitive to irregular behaviour of labour force participation rates. Irregular labour force participation rates data for age groups above 50 as well as missing values were a problem in smaller EU countries with a limited EU-LFS sample size. In those cases, irregularities in the EU-LFS labour force participation rates estimates were smoothed out efficiently with a predictor model.
The duration of working life indicator (DWL) measures the number of years a person aged 15 is expected to be active in the labour market throughout their life.
This indicator has been developed and produced for analysis and monitoring under the Europe 2020 employment strategy. The indicator should complement other indicators by focussing on the entire life cycle of persons in labour force and persons in employment rather than on specific states in the life cycle, such as youth unemployment or early withdrawal from the labour force. The development of life course policies is important in order to achieve more flexibility in the working life according to different stages of the life cycle.
This indicator is derived from demographic data (life tables published in Eurostat online dataset demo_mlifetable) and labour market data (labour force participation rates defined as in the online dataset lfsi_emp_a but with unpublished detail by single age groups).
15 May 2025
The DWL indicator measures the number of years a person at a given age is expected to be in labour force. In principle it can be calculated for any age x as the number of years a person at a given age x is expected to be in labour force. In that case it is defined as:
(1) dx = Tax / lx
with
(2) Tax = Sumzy=0 (Lay) sum of expected years in labour force at age x
and
(3) Lax= Lx. rx average number of persons in labour force at age x
and with
lx: Number of survivors at the beginning of an age interval
Lx : Number of person years living between x and x+1
Lax : Average number of persons in labour force at age x
rx : Labour force paricipation rate at age x (0 ≤ rx ≤ 1). The labour force participation rate is the labour force divided by the total population at each age and gender. The labour force comprises employed and unemployed persons.
Tax : Sum of working years expected at age x
x : Minimum age
z : Maximum age
The age z can be considered as the age beyond which workers end to perform remunerated activities on a regular basis, while the age x can be considered as the age at which most young people are likely to become engaged to the labour market. For the purpose of the DWL indicator these thresholds are set at 15 and 99 years of age.
The formulas above are used to calculate the DWL of men and women in each country. The DWL for the total men + women population is calculated as a weighted average of the DWL of men and women, using as weighting coefficients the population aged 15 of each sex. The DWL for the European aggregates are also calculated as weighted averages of the DWL for the Member States, using as weighting coefficients the population aged 15.
The two data sources used are:
Life tables available from Eurostat to calculate the survival functions
European Union Labour force survey (EU-LFS) labour force participation rates by single age group
For further details see attachment in section 'Annexes'.
For demographic data: individuals
For labour force survey data: individuals living in private households
The EU-LFS results cover the total population usually residing in Member States, except for persons living in collective or institutional households. While demographic data are gathered for all age groups, questions relating to labour force status are restricted to persons in the age group of 15 years and over. In the EFTA countries participating in EU-LFS, i.e. Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, population data are not provided for the age-groups outside the scope of labour force status questions. The EU-LFS covers all economic activities and occupations.
For demographic data, the reference period is the calendar year.
The EU-LFS is designed as a continuous quarterly survey with interviews spread uniformly over all weeks of a quarter. The reference week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. By convention, the first week of the year is the week including the first Thursday, and the 1st reference quarter consists of 13 consecutive weeks starting from that week. Specific rules are foreseen in case of a quarter with 14 weeks. A similar Thursday rule is applied to months in order to derive the reference month. All reference weeks (13 in general) are basically assigned to define the reference quarter according to this rule as well.
Annual data encompass the four reference quarters in the year.
Before early 2000s the EU-LFS was conducted annually in spring, rather than quarterly. Spring was considered a period representative of the labour situation in the whole year. The changeover from an annual survey to a continuous, quarterly survey took place between 1998 and 2004, depending on the Member State. For more information on the transition to a quarterly continuous survey, please consult: EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Development and history.
Not assessed.
Years.
See the metadata for table demo_mlifetable (demo_mor) and the main indicators lfsi.
As explained above, the DWL indicator combines demographic data from life tables with EU-LFS data.
As regards the life tables, data are collected by Eurostat from the National Statistical Institutes and they are based on administrative data sources.
As regards the EU Labour Force Survey, for more information please consult the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage. The labour force participation rates taken into consideration are the average over four quarterly observed rates in the year considered.
The Labour Force Survey is a rotating random sample survey of persons in private households.
Estimates are calculated once a year. The estimates for year Y are released in spring of year Y+1. The data available at that time are the EU-LFS data for year Y and the life tables for year Y-1. The calculation uses the life tables for Y-1 as a proxy for the life tables for year Y.
The DWL for year Y is first published in spring Y+1.
Regarding demographic data, Eurostat requests to all countries demographic statistics based on the concept of usual resident population.
Regarding EU-LFS data, comparability across countries is considered as high and is achieved through various regulations ensuring harmonisation of concepts, definitions and methodologies.
