Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact : ESTAT-SDG-MONITORING@ec.europa.eu

This indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set where it is used to monitor progress towards SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth; which is embedded in the European Commission’s Priorities under the 'European Green Deal' and 'An economy that works for people'. SDG 8 calls, among other things, for providing opportunities for full and productive employment and decent work for all.

The breakdown of the indicator by citizenship is presented as a separate table, sdg_08_30a. It is used to monitor progress towards the social inclusion of migrants within the scope of SDG 10 on reducing inequalities.

Employment and other labour market-related issues are at the heart of social and political debate in the EU. Paid employment is crucial for ensuring sufficient living standards and it provides the necessary foundation for people to achieve their personal goals and aspirations. Moreover, employment contributes to economic performance, quality of life and social inclusion, making it a cornerstone of socioeconomic development and well-being.

The EU supports growth, job creation and competitiveness through funding instrumentssuch as the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the European Social Fund and its successor, the European Social Fund Plus, the European Structural and Investment Funds, Horizon 2020, the Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI), the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME), the Emergency Support Instrument, the Connecting Europe Facility and the Creative Europe Programme (CAP).

The European Pillar of Social Rights, jointly proclaimed by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council in 2017, sets out 20 key principles and rights essential for fair and well-functioning labour markets and social protection systems. The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, adopted in 2021, turns the Principles into concrete actions to benefit citizens. It also proposes an ambitious employment target of 78 % of the population aged 20 to 64 for the EU to reach by 2030. In support of this, the Action Plan proposes to halve the gender employment gap by 2030 compared with 2019 and to decrease the rate of young people neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET) aged 15 to 29 to 9 % by 2030.

The indicator measures the share of the population aged 20 to 64 which is employed. Employed persons are defined as persons who, during a reference week, worked at least one hour for pay or profit or were not working but had jobs from which they were temporarily absent.

The indicator is part of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) main indicators, where the series are adjusted (seasonal adjustment) and break-corrected, and should consequently not be compared with the indicators in the annual and quarterly detailed series, which are not adjusted and not break-corrected. Results might occasionally be slightly different.

The separate table sdg_08_30a shows the breakdown of employment rate by citizenship. It shows the shares for citizens of the reporting country, for foreigners from EU countries and for non-EU citizens .

% of population aged 20 to 64 by sex and % of population aged 20 to 64 by citizenship

Calendar year

The indicator is produced according to the high-level quality standards of European Statistics. Details on accuracy can be found in the metadata of the source datasets (see link to related metadata).

ESS (LFS)

Data source: ESS Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Data provider: Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, based on data reported by the countries.

Every year

The indicator is updated annually in April. Complete and updated ESS data release information can be accessed via Eurostat release calendar.

T+1 year

New data points are disseminated by the end of April after the reference year.

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye.

All EU MS

Data are comparable between all EU Member States respectively other presented countries.

> 10 years

Presented time series (including EU aggregates) starts in 2002 for sdg_08_30a and in 2009 for sdg_08_30.

> 4 data points

Fully comparable since 2009 for the EU aggregate with some exceptions at the country level over the years for sdg_08_30.

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is less than 3 data points for sdg_08_30a.

Analysis of the indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

see table sdg_08_30, sdg_08_30a

Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

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