Migrant integration statistics – labour market indicators

Data extracted: 12 May 2025.

Planned article update: June 2026.

Highlights

Between 2014 and 2024, unemployment rate fell across all citizenship groups. Among non-EU citizens, it dropped from 21.4% to 12.3%, though it still remains nearly two and a half times higher than for nationals (5.1%).

This article presents European statistics for 3 labour market indicators: the labour force participation rate, employment rate, and unemployment rate. These indicators are mainly analysed according to individuals’ citizenship and their migration status.

Individuals are classified by citizenship as either nationals or non-nationals of the country in which they reside. Non-nationals are further divided into 2 groups: those who hold the citizenship of another EU country and those who hold the citizenship of a non-EU country.

Migration status is defined according to individuals’ country of birth and, where relevant, their parents’ country of birth. Individuals are grouped as either native-born (born in the reporting country) or foreign-born (born abroad). Native-born individuals are further classified based on the birthplace of their parents, in order to reflect on the possible migrant background. As a result, the migration status categories used are: native-born with 2 native-born parents, native-born with one foreign-born parent, native-born with 2 foreign-born parents, and foreign-born persons.

This article forms part of the online publication on migrant integration statistics.

Overview

The EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) is the source of data for this article. The main focus of this article is the age group 20–64 years. This age group is of particular interest as it is the focus for employment analyses in the Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021–2027. The information for the youth unemployment rate refers to people aged 15–29 years.

3 labour market indicators are presented in this article: labour force participation rate, employment rate and unemployment rate.

The labour force participation rate is the proportion of people in the labour force (employed or unemployed) as a percentage of the total population.
The employment rate is the number of employed persons (someone working as an employee, self-employed or contributing family workers) as a percentage of the total population.
The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed persons as a percentage of the labour force. The youth unemployment rate refers specifically to individuals aged 15–29 and is calculated as the number of unemployed persons in that age group as a percentage of the labour force aged 15–29.

The overview focuses on the analysis of these 3 indicators by citizenship over the period from 2002 to 2024. The following 3 sections, one for each indicator, present the data broken down by both citizenship and migration status.

Labour force participation has increased since 2005 for both nationals and citizens of other EU countries (Figure 1). For non-EU citizens, the trend was different: between 2008 and 2016, participation declined, followed by a gradual increase from 2016 onwards. A temporary drop was observed across all groups during the COVID-19 pandemic year 2020. More recently, participation levels have started to rise again for all groups, although a slight decrease was recorded in 2024 for citizens of other EU countries.

Figure 1

The employment rate has followed a generally upward trend for all 3 citizenship groups since 2018 (Figure 2). The only notable exception occurred in 2020, when a decline was observed across all groups, reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, a slight decrease in the employment rate was recorded for citizens of other EU countries.

Figure 2

The unemployment rate followed a continuous downward trend from 2013 onwards across all 3 citizenship groups, with a temporary increase in 2020 (Figure 3). After that, it continued to decline, reaching levels lower than those recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, a slight increase was observed among citizens of other EU countries and non-EU countries.

Figure 3

Labour force participation rate

Labour force participation rates in 2024 varied across EU countries and citizenship groups (Figure 4). In most countries, citizens of other EU countries recorded higher participation rates than nationals. However, in some cases, such as Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Latvia and Hungary, the opposite was observed. For non-EU citizens, participation rates were generally lower than those of nationals, although some exceptions persisted (Czechia, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia).

Figure 4

Figure 5 shows labour force participation rates by migration status and education level for persons aged 20–64 in 2024. Labour force participation generally increased with education across all groups. Native-born individuals with 2 native-born parents or with one foreign-born parent followed similar patterns.

Among foreign-born individuals and native-born individuals with 2 foreign born parents, participation also increased with education, though the differences across education levels were smaller.

Figure 5

Employment rate

In 2024, employment rates varied across EU countries and by citizenship. In several countries, citizens of other EU countries had higher employment rates than nationals. However, in others, such as Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Netherlands and Finland, the rates were lower.

For non-EU citizens, employment rates were generally lower than for nationals in most EU countries, with the exception of Czechia, Croatia, Malta, Poland and Romania where non-EU citizens showed higher employment levels.

Figure 6

Figure 7 shows the employment rates by migration status and educational attainment in 2024 for persons aged 20–64.

In most countries, employment rates were highest for native-born people with 2 native-born parents, with some exceptions. Foreign-born people and native-born people with 2 foreign-born parents generally showed lower employment levels.

At the European Union level, employment generally increases with education across all groups. Among individuals with lower levels of education, the employment rate gap between foreign-born and native-born individuals was smaller, with foreign-born individuals having higher employment rates. However, among those with tertiary education, the employment rate gap widened, with native-born people with 2 native-born parents showing higher employment rates than foreign-born individuals.

Figure 7

Unemployment rate

In 2024, unemployment rates varied across EU countries and citizenship groups. In most cases, nationals had the lowest unemployment rates, while non-EU citizens had the highest. The only exception was Greece, where the highest unemployment rate was recorded among citizens of other EU countries

Figure 8

Figure 9 presents youth unemployment rates for individuals aged 15–29, broken down by citizenship group. In most countries, nationals had lower unemployment rates than both citizens of other EU countries and non-EU citizens. Exceptions include Spain, Cyprus, Luxembourg (data not available for non-EU citizens), and Sweden, where citizens of other EU countries had the lowest rates, and Italy, where they had the highest.

Figure 9

Figure 10 shows unemployment rates by migration status for 2024. In most countries, native-born persons with 2 native-born parents recorded the lowest rates, while native-born with 2 foreign-born parents and foreign-born persons often had the highest.

Across all citizenship groups, unemployment rates decrease with higher levels of education, but this effect was more pronounced among nationals.

Figure 10

Source data for graphs

The data displayed in the visualisations come directly from the Eurostat online database for the reference year(s) mentioned in the visualisation. The accompanying text is from June 2025 and reflects the data situation at that moment in time.

For information on data reliability, series breaks, and differing definitions, flags can be consulted in the online dataset.

Data sources

The data presented in this article are from the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), the largest household sample survey in the EU. The survey covers the resident population, defined as all people usually residing in private households. As such, persons living in collective households are excluded from the target population. Usual residence means the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage. The data for the EU are aggregated results for the 27 Member States. For more information on the data sources used, please consult the online publication EU labour force survey.

Due to the sampling nature of the survey, some data have low reliability or are not published due to very low reliability or confidentiality.

Main concepts

The labour force (previously referred as active population) comprises employed and unemployed persons.

An employed person is someone aged 15–89 years who, during the reference week of the labour force survey, performed work – even if just for one hour a week – for pay, profit or family gain. Also included are people who were not at work but had a job or business from which they were temporarily absent due to illness, holiday, industrial dispute or education and training.
An unemployed person is defined by Eurostat, according to the guidelines of the International Labour Organization, as someone:
- aged 15 to 74 years,
- not employed during the reference week according to the definition of employment,
- currently available for work,
- actively seeking work or found a job to start within a period of at most 3 months.
A long-term unemployed person is someone who is out of work and has been actively seeking employment for at least a year. The unemployment period is defined as the duration of a job search, or as the length of time since the last job was held (if shorter than the time spent on a job search).

Context

In November 2020, an Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021–2027 (COM(2016) 377 final) was adopted with the purpose of fostering social cohesion and building inclusive societies for all. Inclusion for all is about ensuring that all policies are accessible to and work for everyone, including migrants and EU citizens with migrant background. This plan includes actions in four sectoral areas (education and training, employment and skills, health and housing) as well as actions supporting effective integration and inclusion in all sectoral areas at the EU, Member State and regional level, with a specific attention paid to young people.

In April 2024, the European Parliament adopted the Pact on Migration and Asylum, followed by the Council in May 2024. The Revised Reception Conditions Directive and the Qualifications Regulation, which are part of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, include important provisions on integration. The Pact provides a comprehensive approach that delivers a common European response to migration. It allows the EU to manage migration in a fair and sustainable way, ensuring solidarity between countries while also providing certainty and clarity for people arriving in the EU and protecting their fundamental rights. The Pact on Migration and Asylum will ensure that countries share the effort responsibly, showing solidarity with the ones that protect our external borders and with those facing particular migratory pressure, while preventing irregular migration to the EU. The Pact also gives the EU and its countries the tools to react rapidly in situations of crisis, when countries are faced with large numbers of arrivals or when a third-country or non-State entity tries to instrumentalise migrants in order to destabilise our Union.

More information on the policies and legislation in force in this area can be found in an introductory article on migrant integration statistics.

Explore further

Database

Migrant integration (mii), see:

Employment (mii_emp)

Activity rates (mii_act)

Unemployment (mii_une)

Employment and self-employment (mii_em)

Thematic section

Publications

Data visualisations

Migrant integration and inclusion dashboard

Methodology

LFS series – Detailed annual survey results (ESMS metadata file – lfsa_esms)
EU labour force survey
Labour force survey – methodology – main concepts

External links

Legislation