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
[4D1_F3] Eurostat - Labour market and skills
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
3 February 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
3 February 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
3 February 2025
3.1. Data description
The domain 'Youth Employment' is based on the results of the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).
The EU-LFS is a quarterly household sample survey carried out in the Member States of the European Union, EFTA countries (except for Liechtenstein) and Candidate Countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). It is the main source of information about the situation and trends on the labour market in the European Union.
Since 1 January 2021, the EU-LFS is based on Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, also called the Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation (IESS FR), and its Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240.
According to the regulations in force since 1 January 2021, the EU-LFS is organised in 9 topics:
Technical items
Person and household characteristics;
Labour market participation;
Educational attainment and background;
Job tenure, work biography and previous work experience;
Working conditions including working hours and working time arrangements;
Participation in education and training;
Health: status and disability, access to, availability and use of health care and health determinants;
Income, consumption and elements of wealth, including debts.
The survey's target population consists of all persons in private households, although the variables related to labour market are only collected for persons aged 15-89 years and education and training for persons aged 15-74 years.
Detailed information on main features, legal basis, methodology and data as well as on the historical development of the EU-LFS is available on the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage.
3.2. Classification system
The EU-LFS results are produced in accordance with relevant international classification systems.
Main classifications used are NACE Rev. 1 (NACE Rev. 1.1 from 2005) and NACE Rev. 2 (from 2008) for economic activity, ISCO 88 (COM) and ISCO 08 (from 2011) for occupation, ISCED 2011 for level of education (from 2014) and ISCED-F 2013 for field of education (from 2016), replacing the former ISCED 1997 codes.
For sub-national data, the EU-LFS uses the NUTS (Eurostat Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) and the classification of degree of urbanisation.
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) and levels of aggregation, please consult: EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Documentation >> classifications.
3.3. Coverage - sector
As a general rule the EU-LFS covers all economic sectors.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) provides population estimates for the main labour market characteristics, such as employment, unemployment, inactivity, hours of work, occupation, economic activity and other labour related variables, as well as important socio-demographic characteristics, such as sex, age, education, household characteristics and regions of residence.
The definitions of employment and unemployment, as well as other survey characteristics follow the definitions and recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The definition of unemployment is further specified in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1897/2000.
The EU-LFS covers all persons usually residing in private households in the territory of the reporting country: Member States of the European Union, EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and Candidate Countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). Persons living in collective or institutional households do not belong to the target population and are excluded from the EU-LFS.
In particular, persons performing compulsory military service (conscripts) are excluded from the private household population for the EU-LFS (see Article 3 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2181).
European Union, Euro area, EU Member States, EFTA Countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), Candidate Countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey), USA and Japan for some tables in the LFS Main Indicators.
Data up to the third quarter of 2020 are also available for the United Kingdom.
Data for Cyprus only refers to the areas of Cyprus controlled by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.
Since 2014, data for France also includes the French overseas departments Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, La Réunion as well as Mayotte from 2021.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data for all EU Member States and the United Kingdom are mostly available from 1999 or 2000 onwards. Data relating to the former EU-15 are available from 1995 onwards. Data relating to the former EU-12 are available from 1987 onwards (LFS main indicators for unemployment are available since 1983 for some countries). Results for EFTA countries date back to 1995 and for Candidate Countries to 2002. Household data with tabulation by household composition, number of children, age of the youngest child and household working status are available from 2005.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable
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').
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
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
8.1. Release calendar
EU-LFS main indicators data are released according to a quarterly release calendar. Annual results are released at the same time as the fourth quarter.
8.2. Release calendar access
Not applicable.
8.3. Release policy - user access
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').
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
EU-LFS results are used by DG Employment and a number of other Directorates-General of the Commission mainly for measurement and monitoring of policy agenda purposes. The European Central Bank (ECB) uses short term EU-LFS statistics related to Euro area. Key users include NSI's, international organizations, news agencies and researchers which use various aspects of EU-LFS data for international or intra EU comparisons. Finally, EU-LFS data are used by Eurostat for compiling detailed regional indicators, for estimates on current education and educational attainment, higher education and research, and for accurate estimates of labour input of National Accounts.
Several indicators stemming from the EU-LFS are used for monitoring and measurement of core policy objectives of the EU, for example in the context of the European pillar of social rights, the sustainable development goals and the macroeconomic imbalance procedure.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
12.3. Completeness
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
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
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
14.2. Punctuality
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
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
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
15.4. Coherence - internal
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
Not available.
17.1. Data revision - policy
All data disseminated consist of data already disseminated in Eurobase for the following domain: employ_esms
The revision policy is therefore effectively the revision policy of that domain.
17.2. Data revision - practice
The revision practice effectively corresponds to the revision practice of the domain indicated under sub‑concept 17.1 (data revision – policy).
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
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
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
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).
The domain 'Youth Employment' is based on the results of the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).
The EU-LFS is a quarterly household sample survey carried out in the Member States of the European Union, EFTA countries (except for Liechtenstein) and Candidate Countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). It is the main source of information about the situation and trends on the labour market in the European Union.
Since 1 January 2021, the EU-LFS is based on Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, also called the Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation (IESS FR), and its Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240.
According to the regulations in force since 1 January 2021, the EU-LFS is organised in 9 topics:
Technical items
Person and household characteristics;
Labour market participation;
Educational attainment and background;
Job tenure, work biography and previous work experience;
Working conditions including working hours and working time arrangements;
Participation in education and training;
Health: status and disability, access to, availability and use of health care and health determinants;
Income, consumption and elements of wealth, including debts.
The survey's target population consists of all persons in private households, although the variables related to labour market are only collected for persons aged 15-89 years and education and training for persons aged 15-74 years.
Detailed information on main features, legal basis, methodology and data as well as on the historical development of the EU-LFS is available on the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage.
3 February 2025
The European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) provides population estimates for the main labour market characteristics, such as employment, unemployment, inactivity, hours of work, occupation, economic activity and other labour related variables, as well as important socio-demographic characteristics, such as sex, age, education, household characteristics and regions of residence.
The definitions of employment and unemployment, as well as other survey characteristics follow the definitions and recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The definition of unemployment is further specified in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1897/2000.
The EU-LFS covers all persons usually residing in private households in the territory of the reporting country: Member States of the European Union, EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and Candidate Countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). Persons living in collective or institutional households do not belong to the target population and are excluded from the EU-LFS.
In particular, persons performing compulsory military service (conscripts) are excluded from the private household population for the EU-LFS (see Article 3 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2181).
European Union, Euro area, EU Member States, EFTA Countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), Candidate Countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey), USA and Japan for some tables in the LFS Main Indicators.
Data up to the third quarter of 2020 are also available for the United Kingdom.
Data for Cyprus only refers to the areas of Cyprus controlled by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.
Since 2014, data for France also includes the French overseas departments Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, La Réunion as well as Mayotte from 2021.
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').
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
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).
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
Annual.
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').
Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').
