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 E4: Regional statistics and geographical information
1.3. Contact name
Restricted from publication
1.4. Contact person function
Restricted from publication
1.5. Contact mail address
2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG
1.6. Contact email address
Restricted from publication
1.7. Contact phone number
Restricted from publication
1.8. Contact fax number
Restricted from publication
2.1. Metadata last certified
1 March 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
1 March 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
1 March 2024
3.1. Data description
The source for the regional labour market information down to NUTS level 2 is the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS). This is a quarterly household sample survey conducted in all Member States of the EU, the United Kingdom, EFTA and Candidate countries.
The EU-LFS survey follows the definitions and recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). To achieve further harmonisation, the Member States also adhere to common principles when formulating questionnaires. The LFS' target population is made up of all persons in private households aged 15 and over. For more information see the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage.
The EU-LFS is designed to give accurate quarterly information at national level as well as annual information at NUTS 2 regional level and the compilation of these figures is well specified in the regulation. Microdata including the NUTS 2 level codes are provided by all the participating countries with a good degree of geographical comparability, which allows the production and dissemination of a complete set of comparable indicators for this territorial level.
At present the transmission of the regional labour market data at NUTS 3 level has no legal basis. However, many countries transmit NUTS 3 figures to Eurostat on a voluntary basis, under the understanding that they are not for publication with such detail, but for aggregation by territorial typologies, i.e. urban-rural, metropolitan, coastal, mountain, borders and island typology. Most of the NUTS 3 data are based on the LFS while some countries transmit data based on registers, administrative data, small area estimation and other reliable sources.
3.2. Classification system
The regional breakdown of the countries in the regional labour market tables is based on the:
2. Agreements between Eurostat and Candidate and Potential Candidate Countries as well as between Eurostat and EFTA countries, for which statistical regions have been coded in a way that resembles NUTS. For more details, please consult Statistical regions for EU Candidate and EFTA countries.
EU-LFS also uses the Degree of Urbanisation classification (DEGURBA). This classification classifies Local Administrative Units (LAU or communes) into three types of area: Cities (densely populated areas), Towns and suburbs (intermediate density areas) and Rural areas (thinly populated areas). For more details, please consult Degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA).
The EU-LFS results are produced in accordance with the relevant international classification systems. The main classifications used are NACE (Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community) to code the economic activity and ISCED (International standard classification of education) to measure the level and the field of completed and current education. Actual coding in the EU-LFS may deviate to some extent from those general standards; for more details on classifications (including the comparability between the revised classifications), levels of aggregation and transition rules, please consult EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Methodology >> classifications.
3.3. Coverage - sector
As a general rule the EU-LFS covers all economic sectors.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
3.5. Statistical unit
Persons
3.6. Statistical population
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
3.7. Reference area
European Union, Euro area, EU-Member States, the United Kingdom, EFTA Countries (except for Liechtenstein) and Candidate Countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). Data for Cyprus refer only to the areas of Cyprus controlled by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus. Since 2014 data for France include the French overseas departments: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, La Réunion. Regional tables include also Mayotte.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Time series are available from 1999 onwards
3.9. Base period
Not applicable
Most results measure number of persons (thousands). Some indicators are reported as rates (employment and unemployment rates). Some variables are reported in other units (working time in hours, etc.).
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
EU-LFS microdata as received by Eurostat from the national statistical institutes do not contain any administrative information such as names or addresses that would allow direct identification. Access to this microdata is nevertheless strictly controlled and limited to specified Eurostat staff.
After data treatment, records are aggregated for further use. Each dataset is complemented by the transmission of metadata, in particular confidentiality/reliability thresholds. These thresholds provide the size of the population group below which data shall either not be published, or be published with a flag. Aggregated data published in Eurobase follow these confidentiality rules: data are blanked or flagged if they are below these reliability limits.
Under specific conditions (see Council Regulation (EEC) No. 577/98 of 9 March 1998), researchers may access specific microdatasets. To avoid disclosure of confidential data, these data are "anonymised", on the basis of a list of anonymisation criteria agreed with the National Statistical Institutes. Please refer to access to microdata.
The precise data of data release is disseminated in the EU LFS dedicated section found in the Eurostat's website.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
Annual. From March 2014 onwards, regional labour market data at NUTS 2 level are continuously updated on the Eurostat website to take revisions into account.
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
Under specific conditions (see Council Regulation (EEC) No. 577/98 of 9 March 1998), researchers may access specific microdata sets. To avoid disclosure of confidential data, these data are "anonymised", on the basis of a list of anonymisation criteria agreed with the National Statistical Institutes. Please refer to access to microdata.
For information on quality reporting and annual quality reports including regional data, please consult quality Reports on the EU-LFS.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
EU-LFS statistics have overall high quality. National LFS surveys are considered as reliable sources applying high standards with regard to the methodology. However, the EU-LFS, like any survey, is based upon a sample of the population. The results are therefore subject to the usual types of errors associated with random sampling. Based on the sample size and design in the various countries, Eurostat implements basic guidelines intended to avoid publication of figures that are unreliable or to give warning of the unreliability of the figures. Due to these publication guidelines and the reliability thresholds applied to the data, NUTS 2 estimates for some regions and breakdowns cannot be published or can only be published with a warning (e.g. for small regions or where the number of unemployed persons is very low). For a detailed description of the publication thresholds used, please consult the Publication guidelines and thresholds on EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage.
EU-LFS estimates for a given reference period have full internal coherence, as they are all based on the same corpus of microdata and they are calculated using the same estimation methods. Arithmetic and accounting identities in the production of LFS datasets are observed.
In order to maintain consistency over time in case of a change of the NUTS classification, back data are either recalculated by National Statistical Institutes using the newest NUTS breakdown, or recoded in case a mapping is possible or deleted from the table when this is not possible. In the latter case, aggregates are not affected.
LFS data based on the old NUTS classifications are available under the request for ad–hoc extractions.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Regional labour market indicators are used by DG Regional and Urban Policy and DG Employment mainly for measuring regional disparities and monitoring cohesion policy as well as progress towards achieving the Europe 2020 strategy. The youth unemployment rate at NUTS 2 level has been selected as the key indicator to establish the list of eligible regions for funds under the Youth Employment Initiative for the period 2014-2020. Other key users include NSI's, the ILO, OECD, news agencies and researchers which use various aspects of regional labour market data for international or intra-EU comparisons.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Eurostat does not carry out satisfaction survey targeted at users of labour markets statistics. The relevance of the regional labour market statistics for the users can thus only be assessed by indirect means. All new requests for regional labour market statistics are subject to scrutiny by the national experts and representatives of the NSIs and in particular for major topics of interest, for social research the instrument of ad hoc modules is used. The main institutional users other than the Commission are also known to the units for Regional Statistics and for Labour Market Statistics. Many of them are frequently consulted on various aspects of development and dissemination of labour force statistics.
12.3. Completeness
Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Iceland, Montenegro and North Macedonia comprise a single NUTS 2 region, i.e. national data represent NUTS 2 results (as well as NUTS 1 results).
Luxembourg, Cyprus and Montenegro comprise a single NUTS 3 region, i.e. national data represent NUTS 3 results (as well as NUTS 1 and NUTS 2 results).
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
13.2. Sampling error
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
13.3. Non-sampling error
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
14.1. Timeliness
A common Council regulation (EC) No 577/98 establishes the timeliness of data transmissions from the NSIs in the Member States to Eurostat. This timeliness is 12 weeks after the end of the reference period, i.e. end of March of year T+1 for data of the last quarter of reference year T.
14.2. Punctuality
From 2014 onwards, annual NUTS 2 data is released within one month after the transmission of the data from NSIs, i.e. in April of the year T+1 following the reference year T.
The aggregated NUTS 3 data by territorial typologies are published 4-6 weeks after receiving the NUTS 3 estimates from the NSIs.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
15.2. Comparability - over time
Every year, a certain number of changes are introduced in some national LFSs, to take into account changes introduced at European level, to better align the national surveys to the already existing EU regulations or methodological guidelines, or to take into account national needs.
These changes can concern the conceptual level (i.e. concepts and definitions used by the LFS, the survey coverage, i.e. the target population, the legislation, the classifications used, the geographical boundaries) or the measurement level (i.e. the sampling frame, the sample design, the rotation pattern, the questionnaire, the instructions to interviewers, the survey modes, the weighting scheme, the use of auxiliary information).
Regional labour market data based on pre-2003 methodology (data up to 2001 based on the “spring” quarter only) is no longer published on the Eurostat website but is available on request.
The comparability section in the Reports on the EU-LFS, lists the changes to the national labour force surveys introduced each year by the participating countries.
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
15.4. Coherence - internal
EU-LFS estimates for a given reference period have full internal coherence, as they are all based on the same corpus of microdata and they are calculated using the same estimation methods. Arithmetic and accounting identities in the production of LFS datasets are observed.
In order to maintain consistency over time in case of a change of the NUTS classification, back data are either recalculated by National Statistical Institutes using the newest NUTS breakdown, or recoded in case a mapping is possible or deleted from the table when this is not possible. In the latter case, aggregates are not affected.
LFS data based on the old NUTS classifications are available under the request for ad–hoc extractions.
Revisions of previously released data are not expected, unless major errors are identified in the data delivered or in their processing. Exceptional revisions may happen e.g. after new estimates of population from a population census or in case of change or improvements in the methodology or in the context of back data revisions of regional coding.
EU-LFS results are revised whenever revised quarterly LFS data become available.
17.2. Data revision - practice
All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data. Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated.
Data may be published even if they are missing for certain countries or flagged as provisional or of low reliability for certain countries. They are replaced with final data once transmitted and validated for entering new or replacing provisional data exist. European aggregates are updated for consistency with new country data.
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Since the early 2000's, the survey has quarterly periodicity, previously it was an annual survey run in spring. Regional data at NUTS 2 level is published as annual averages of quarterly data.
18.3. Data collection
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
18.4. Data validation
Eurostat checks the data quality and consistency prior to the dissemination of transmitted NUTS 2 and national data.
18.5. Data compilation
EU and Euro area aggregates are calculated aggregating estimated population totals from Member States. For the data expressed in absolute values for each quarter (i.e. number of persons/households) no further Eurostat weighting is used. Rates/ratios are subsequently calculated from the data expressed in absolute values (i.e. number of persons/households). Regional data at NUTS 2 level is published as annual averages of quarterly data.
The measure for calculation of regional labour market disparities is based on the population-weighted coefficient of variation (CV). The dispersion results are produced only for the Member States with more than four NUTS 2 regions and for the United Kingdom.
Attribution of flags: If the sum of weights of all regions for which the indicator itself is flagged as unreliable is greater or equal to 30% than flag n (not significant) is assigned to the CV result. If the sum of weights of all regions for which the indicator itself is flagged as u (low reliability) or unreliable is greater or equal to 50% than flag u(low reliability) is assigned to the CV result.
Example: Dispersion of regional employment rates (at NUTS2 level) is the coefficient of variation (CV) of regional employment rates in a country weighted by the absolute population of each region:
where is the difference between the employment rate in region i and the average employment rate in country;is a weight of each region i within the country; is the average employment rate in the country; 'i' represents a NUTS2 region in a country; 'n' is a number of NUTS2 regions in a country.
Note: Regions where only population figure is available are not taken into calculation of the average population in the country. Only regions for which both values are available (employed persons and population) are taken into calculation of CV.
18.6. Adjustment
No adjustment of the NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 data is done.
No notes.
employ_esms - Employment and unemployment (Labour force survey)
The source for the regional labour market information down to NUTS level 2 is the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS). This is a quarterly household sample survey conducted in all Member States of the EU, the United Kingdom, EFTA and Candidate countries.
The EU-LFS survey follows the definitions and recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). To achieve further harmonisation, the Member States also adhere to common principles when formulating questionnaires. The LFS' target population is made up of all persons in private households aged 15 and over. For more information see the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage.
The EU-LFS is designed to give accurate quarterly information at national level as well as annual information at NUTS 2 regional level and the compilation of these figures is well specified in the regulation. Microdata including the NUTS 2 level codes are provided by all the participating countries with a good degree of geographical comparability, which allows the production and dissemination of a complete set of comparable indicators for this territorial level.
At present the transmission of the regional labour market data at NUTS 3 level has no legal basis. However, many countries transmit NUTS 3 figures to Eurostat on a voluntary basis, under the understanding that they are not for publication with such detail, but for aggregation by territorial typologies, i.e. urban-rural, metropolitan, coastal, mountain, borders and island typology. Most of the NUTS 3 data are based on the LFS while some countries transmit data based on registers, administrative data, small area estimation and other reliable sources.
1 March 2024
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
Persons
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
European Union, Euro area, EU-Member States, the United Kingdom, EFTA Countries (except for Liechtenstein) and Candidate Countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). Data for Cyprus refer only to the areas of Cyprus controlled by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus. Since 2014 data for France include the French overseas departments: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, La Réunion. Regional tables include also Mayotte.
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
Most results measure number of persons (thousands). Some indicators are reported as rates (employment and unemployment rates). Some variables are reported in other units (working time in hours, etc.).
EU and Euro area aggregates are calculated aggregating estimated population totals from Member States. For the data expressed in absolute values for each quarter (i.e. number of persons/households) no further Eurostat weighting is used. Rates/ratios are subsequently calculated from the data expressed in absolute values (i.e. number of persons/households). Regional data at NUTS 2 level is published as annual averages of quarterly data.
The measure for calculation of regional labour market disparities is based on the population-weighted coefficient of variation (CV). The dispersion results are produced only for the Member States with more than four NUTS 2 regions and for the United Kingdom.
Attribution of flags: If the sum of weights of all regions for which the indicator itself is flagged as unreliable is greater or equal to 30% than flag n (not significant) is assigned to the CV result. If the sum of weights of all regions for which the indicator itself is flagged as u (low reliability) or unreliable is greater or equal to 50% than flag u(low reliability) is assigned to the CV result.
Example: Dispersion of regional employment rates (at NUTS2 level) is the coefficient of variation (CV) of regional employment rates in a country weighted by the absolute population of each region:
where is the difference between the employment rate in region i and the average employment rate in country;is a weight of each region i within the country; is the average employment rate in the country; 'i' represents a NUTS2 region in a country; 'n' is a number of NUTS2 regions in a country.
Note: Regions where only population figure is available are not taken into calculation of the average population in the country. Only regions for which both values are available (employed persons and population) are taken into calculation of CV.
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
Annual. From March 2014 onwards, regional labour market data at NUTS 2 level are continuously updated on the Eurostat website to take revisions into account.
A common Council regulation (EC) No 577/98 establishes the timeliness of data transmissions from the NSIs in the Member States to Eurostat. This timeliness is 12 weeks after the end of the reference period, i.e. end of March of year T+1 for data of the last quarter of reference year T.
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'Related metadata').
Every year, a certain number of changes are introduced in some national LFSs, to take into account changes introduced at European level, to better align the national surveys to the already existing EU regulations or methodological guidelines, or to take into account national needs.
These changes can concern the conceptual level (i.e. concepts and definitions used by the LFS, the survey coverage, i.e. the target population, the legislation, the classifications used, the geographical boundaries) or the measurement level (i.e. the sampling frame, the sample design, the rotation pattern, the questionnaire, the instructions to interviewers, the survey modes, the weighting scheme, the use of auxiliary information).
Regional labour market data based on pre-2003 methodology (data up to 2001 based on the “spring” quarter only) is no longer published on the Eurostat website but is available on request.
The comparability section in the Reports on the EU-LFS, lists the changes to the national labour force surveys introduced each year by the participating countries.
where 
is the difference between the employment rate in region i and the average employment rate in country;
is a weight of each region i within the country; 
is the average employment rate in the country; 'i' represents a NUTS2 region in a country; 'n' is a number of NUTS2 regions in a country.