Retour Non-EU citizens more likely to be economically inactive

20 juillet 2017

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In the European Union (EU), the activity rate of the population varies significantly according to citizenship. In 2016, the proportion of people who were economically active, meaning those employed and unemployed, stood at 68.6% for non-EU citizens aged 20 to 64, while it was 9.1 percentage points higher for nationals (77.8%). Looking at the individual rates, non-EU citizens had a lower employment rate (56.6% vs. 71.7%) and a higher unemployment rate (17.6% vs. 7.9%) than nationals.

Differences between activity rates of non-EU citizens and nationals, 2016

The source dataset can be found here. Romania: Data missing or not presented due to small sample sizes.

The figure above presents the differences between the activity rate of non-EU citizens and that of nationals aged 20 to 64. In 2016, the most significant gaps were recorded in Croatia (37.5% for non-EU citizens compared with 70.3% for nationals, or a difference of -32.8 pp), the Netherlands (-23.6 pp) and Germany (-21.8 pp).

In contrast, non-EU citizens registered a higher activity rate than nationals in Greece (80.1% for non-EU citizens compared with 73.1% for nationals, or +7 pp), Slovenia (+5.4 pp), Italy (+3.9 pp), Portugal (+3.6 pp), Spain (+1.5 pp) and the Czech Republic (+1.3 pp).  

This information comes from a Eurostat article covering on a wide range of indicators related to the labour market outcomes of the migrant population. The data is broken down by citizenship and country of birth. Eurostat's migrant integration indicators also include social inclusion, education and active citizenship.

For more information:

Eurostat website section dedicated to migrant integration statistics

Eurostat database on migrant integration

Eurostat set of Statistics Explained articles on migrant integration