Data extracted in November 2024
Planned article update: 25 November 2025.
Highlights
Introduction
This article focuses on the complex interplay between participation in formal education and in the labour market in the European Union (EU).
In the case of young people, participation in formal education and in the labour market interact in complex ways which may go beyond a straightforward one-way transition from school to work. A share of young people start working, e.g. in the form of part-time, weekend or student jobs, while studying. It is indeed possible to be in formal education and on the labour market at the same time, leading to an overlap. It is important to be aware of these possibilities when interpreting and assessing youth unemployment rates.
According to the United Nations definition, young people, for statistical purposes, refer to the age group 15-24 years. However, the age category 15-29 years also deserves attention as it was considered the reference in the context of the European Year of Youth (2022). For this reason, the current article considers young people aged 15-29 years, but it also provides data on people aged 15-34 years to cover the transition from formal education to the labour market more extensively.
The article shows shows the data from the EU, three EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and three candidate country (Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia and Turkey). Results are compared across EU countries only.
Participation of young persons in formal education and in the labour market
As young people grow older, there is a decrease in their share in education. Not all leave education at the same age; the decrease pace could be determined by national systems of education and training, as well as other factors such as national labour market characteristics and cultural determinants.
Whilst the decrease in the share of young people in formal education can be observed, an increase in those participating in the labour market, both as employed or unemployed, also emerges from the data.
The pace of exit from education differs from the pace of entry onto the labour force, as some people are in education and in the labour force at the same time, while others move out of education and stay outside the labour force.
Figure 1 below shows a schematic presentation of the shares in participation of young people aged 15 to 34 years old in formal education and in the labour market at each age.
- All those employed or unemployed are classified as being in the labour force and are represented by pink and purple colours.
- All those who declared to have been in formal education or training, during the previous four weeks, are considered as being a student or apprentice and are represented by pink or light blue colours.
- Finally, those who are outside the labour force are represented by the blue colour (dark or light blue).
An interesting group includes those who are both in formal education or training and in the labour force. In the schematic representation, this overlap is represented by a pink colour.
In the schematic representation, this overlap is represented by the pink colour.
Please consider that persons who exclusively participated in non-formal training sessions, such as attending a course, a seminar or taking private lessons, are not included and can appear either in the category 'Persons outside the labour force and outside formal education' or 'Persons in the labour force and in formal education'[1].
The overlaps between education and labour force participation reflect a wide range of situations. For some young people, employment is subordinate to education; for example, in the case of students who work for just a few hours a week (e.g. students working at weekends or in the evenings after classes). Others are employed and enrolled in a formal education programme at the same time and with the same purpose. Furthermore, education can be subordinate to employment as other people study after work to qualify for a diploma. In the case the same activity counts as both education and employment - e.g. apprenticeships, paid traineeships (if part of a formal education programme)[2], or specific vocational training phases integrated into some study programmes in tertiary education – and in line with the EU LFS definitions, paid trainees are classified as employed, but unpaid trainees are not.
The status of young people in the labour force can be further disaggregated at EU level, to make a clear distinction between the employed and unemployed (Figure 2). The figure shows that the number of employed people increases and the number of those outside the labour force decreases; however, the overall number of unemployed youth remains unvaried across the ages. More specifically, whilst the number of students or apprentices who are unemployed decreases with age, the overall number of youth unemployment (unemployed, not student or apprentice) remains approximately the same.
The following section of this article analyses country differences regarding those patterns.
Country differences
There are significant structural differences among European countries in young people's participation in the labour market. The reason is a combination of various factors, including the availability of opportunities to work while studying and the differences in the national systems of education and training - for details, see Eurydice - Description of national educational systems and policies.
Each country's characteristics and results are unique, but it is possible to cluster countries according to common trends. Figure 3 (age group 15-29) and Figure 4 (age group 15-34) plot the countries’ situation according to two parameters. The first parameter consists of the degree to which those in education are simultaneously in the labour market (horizontal axis) including those who are employed or search for a job while studying. The second parameter represents the level of youth unemployment, measured in terms of the youth unemployment ratio (vertical axis) which describes those who are available for work and still in search for a job. Figures 3 and 4 highlight five groups of countries.
Overall, it is relevant to notice that two clusters of countries have seen the most changes when comparing the age groups 15-29 and 15-34, in 2023. In fact, in country group 1, for the age group 15-29, ten countries are featured compared to seven countries, for the age group 15-34. In country group 3, a shift due to the change of position of some countries between clusters in the chart can also be observed. However, in this case, four more countries can be found in the age group 15-34 years, compared to 15-29. In particular, four countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia) are part of country group 1, for the age group 15-29, but moved to group 3, for the age group 15-34. Such shift can be explained by significant variations in findings in other clusters which affect the size of the groups 1 and 3. It also brings out changes in some countries’ situation. In Slovakia, the share of youth simultaneously in education and in the labour market is 2.9 % for the age group 15-29 and 2.3% for the age group 15-34. In Latvia, the share of youth simultaneously in education and in the labour market considerably decreases from 9.7% in the age group 15-29 to 7.6% in the age group 15-34. Similarly, in Lithuania, a decrease in the share of youth simultaneously in education and in the labour market from the age group 15-29 to the age group 15-34 can be observed (8.8% and 6.1%, respectively).
Furthermore, the shift between clusters 1 and 3 shows an overall variation across countries in the share of youth simultaneously in formal education and in the labour market and/or youth unemployment ratio, between age groups 15-29 and 15-34. Group 1 depicts the countries where not many young people are employed or actively search for a job during their studies and where the youth unemployment ratio is low partly due to the number of young people who do not search for a job in both age groups – with the exception of Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia, where, starting from the age of 30, young people become more active participants in the labour market like other other countries in the group 3.
Group 2 includes the countries where a remarkable share of youth is employed or search for a job while studying but it might not be easy to find a job. In this group, and in the whole chart, Netherlands represents an exceptional situation. In this country, 46.7 % of youth 15-29 is simultaneously in formal education and in the labour market. Like other countries, the Netherlands have dual study programmes in specific fields of tertiary education that include periods of practical work. Therefore, young people start looking for jobs at a very early age; as a result, there is sizeable unemployment among very young students, but this decreases by the age.
Group 3 contains countries where youth unemployment ratio is greater than the EU average, in both age groups, with the exception of Belgium and Luxembourg where the number of young people still in search for a job is lower than the EU average. This group gathers a few cases where, like in group 1, a considerable share of young people is not employed and does not actively seek work. As for the simultaneous participation of young people in formal education and labour market, the situation in this group is very peculiar due to significant differences across countries. In most of them, simultaneous participation is still difficult and remains lower than the EU average in both age groups. In this cluster of countries, Estonia shows the highest share of youth 15-29 simultaneously in formal education and in the labour market, which is also greater than the EU average (17.1% in Estonia versus 14.5% in the EU).
Group 4 features countries with different situations regarding the youth unemployment ratio, which is very high in Greece and Spain (10.3% and 10.7%, respectively, in the age group 15-34). Both countries also show a low share of youth simultaneously in formal education and in the labour market, with a difference of 5.7 percentage points (pp), between Greece and Spain, in the age group 15-34. Furthermore, Sweden has the greatest deviations from the EU average values, in the age group 15-29, both in terms of youth unemployment ratio and share of youth simultaneously in formal education and in the labour market.
Lastly, group 5 is made up of four countries which are characterised by a balanced situation between the availability of opportunities for simultaneous participation in education and labour market and a relatively low youth unemployment ratio which decreases by the age.
It is interesting to notice that, whilst in all Scandinavian countries, the labour market is very dynamic and there is a long-standing tradition of students doing part-time, weekend or student jobs (with a strong component of seasonal employment), significant variations can be observed between Denmark, Finland and Sweden where there is a poor participation of students in the labour market and a high ratio of unemployed young people, compared to other Nordic and Scandinavian countries and the other countries in the same cluster (group 4). Germany is a particular case with both a very low level of youth unemployment and a high participation of students in the labour market, compared to the EU average, in both age groups.
The following charts illustrate the situation of some countries as representatives of their own groups.
Group 1: the first group of countries has few students who are employed or unemployed. For countries in this group, the overlap between the labour force and education is very small. This could be the case if young people complete their studies before looking for a first job, and there are only few quality part-time or student jobs available. It could include those who quit studies and start working or who cannot prioritise education over employment as they need to work to make a living.
Hungary is shown in Figure 5 as an example.
Group 2: the second group of countries displays a very high participation of students in the labour market and levels of unemployment below the EU average, except Denmark and Finland which also experience a decrease in youth unemployment after thirty years of age. Denmark is shown in Figure 6 as an example.
Group 3: the third group gathers countries with a relatively high level of youth unemployment, and a relatively low to moderate overlap between education and the labour force, with significant differences across countries and the age groups. These differences can be explained by a number of factors linked to national characteristics or policies of education and/or labour market. Portugal is shown in Figure 7 as an example.
Group 4: the fourth group of countries features a relatively low overlap between education and the labour market, with the exception of Sweden. They also have the highest level of youth unemployment compared with all other country groups, particularly Greece, Spain and Sweden in the age group 15-34. Spain is shown in Figure 8 as an example.
Group 5: the last group of countries has high levels of employment among those in education and relatively low levels of unemployment among those in education. In some countries, this is due to the established system of apprenticeship in the secondary education. Ireland is shown in Figure 9 as an example.
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Differences between men and women
There are considerable differences between young men and women regarding their participation in formal education and labour market (Figure 11).
Considering the involvement in education, the shares of women participating in formal education are generally higher than those of men. This is particularly true in the age group 20-24 years, where the share of women exclusively in education is 5.8 pp higher than the share of men.
Concurrently, the participation of women in the labour market is lower than participation of men, when they are not in formal education. In fact, there are much less women than men in employment but not in education, especially in the age group 25-29 years (61.0% of the reference population for women versus 72.1% for men). Women outside the labour force, either in or outside formal education, significantly outnumber men, in all age groups.
As a general conclusion for 2023, it can be observed that, women tend to participate in formal education more than men, across all age groups and all employment statuses, but to be employed or seek employment with more difficulty when not in education.
Compared to men, significantly more women are outside the labour force, thus neither employed nor unemployed, regardless of being in education or not. Specifically, in the age group 25-29, the share of women not in education and outside the labour force is 10 pp higher than the share of men. This share of the population does not participate in the labour market or the formal education system.
Data sources
Source data for tables and graphs
Methods and definitions
All figures in this article are based on the European labour force survey (EU-LFS).
Source: The European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS) is the largest European household sample survey providing quarterly and annual results on labour participation of people aged 15-89 years as well as on persons outside the labour force. It covers residents in private households. Conscripts in military or community service are not included in the results. The EU-LFS is based on the same target populations and uses the same definitions in all countries, which means that the results are comparable between the countries. The EU LFS is an important source of information about the situation and trends in the national and EU labour markets. Each quarter around 1.8 million interviews are conducted throughout the participating countries to obtain statistical information for some 100 variables. Due to the diversity of information and the large sample size, the EU-LFS is also an important source for other European statistics like Education statistics or Regional statistics.
Reference period: Yearly results are obtained as averages of the four quarters in the year.
Coverage: The results from the EU LFS currently cover all European Union Member States, the EFTA Member States of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, as well as the candidate countries Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Türkiye. For Cyprus, the survey only covers the areas of Cyprus controlled by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus. In Figure 10, values for unemployed persons, in Bulgaria, Croatia, Malta, Romania and Slovakia, have not been reported as these are below the national publication threshold for statistical significance. More details about publication guidelines and thresholds in the EU LFS are available at this link. In Figure 11, calculations exclude the counts that have missing values in the education variables.
European aggregates: EU refers to the sum of 27 EU Member States. If data are unavailable for a country, the calculation of the corresponding aggregates takes into account the data for the same country for the most recent period available. Such cases are indicated.
Country codes: Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Czechia (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Croatia (HR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE), Montenegro (ME), North Macedonia (MK), Serbia (RS) and Türkiye (TR).
Country notes
In the Netherlands, LFS data remains collected using a rolling reference week instead of a fixed reference week, i.e. interviewed persons are asked about the situation of the week before the interview rather than a pre-selected week.
Definitions
The concepts and definitions used in the EU LFS follow the 19th Resolution of the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS).
Employed persons are persons aged 15-89 years who, during the reference week, performed work, even for just one hour, for pay, profit or family gain or were not at work but had a job or business from which they were temporarily absent for reasons such as illness, holiday and job-related training.
Unemployed persons are persons aged 15-74 years who were not employed during the reference week, but who were available for work immediately, and were either actively seeking work in the past four weeks or had already found a job to start within the next three months.
The labour force comprises both employed and unemployed persons. People outside the labour force are those classified neither as employed nor as unemployed.
People in education in this article refers to people in formal education during the four weeks preceding the interview. Formal education and training is defined by UNESCO as 'education that is institutionalised, intentional and planned through public organisations and recognised private bodies and — in their totality — constitute the formal education system of a country' [3].
Non-formal education and training, i.e. any organised and attended learning activities outside the formal education system, are excluded from the analyses of this article. For further information on participation in non-formal education and training see the article on adult learning statistics.
Time series
Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 came into force on 1 January 2021 and induced a break in the EU-LFS time series for several EU Member States. In order to monitor the evolution of employment and unemployment despite of the break in the time series, Member States assessed the impact of the break in their country and computed impact factors or break corrected data for a set of indicators. Break corrected data are published on the Eurostat website for the LFS main indicators.
Additional methodological information
More information on the EU-LFS can be found via the online publication EU Labour Force Survey, which includes eight articles on the technical and methodological aspects of the survey. The EU LFS methodology in force from the 2021 data collection onwards is described in methodology from 2021 onwards. Detailed information on coding lists, explanatory notes and classifications used over time can be found under documentation. </datadetails>
Context
The EU Youth Strategy [1] is the framework for EU youth policy cooperation for 2019-2027. It sets 11 European Youth Goals and among them quality employment is set as one of the objectives.
Focus on young people is also highlighted in the European Pillar of Social Rights European Pillar of Social Rights, which sets out 20 key principles and rights essential for fair and well-functioning labour markets and social protection systems. Principle 4 ('Active support to employment') states that 'young people have the right to continued education, apprenticeship, traineeship or a job offer of good standing within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education'.
In October 2020, all EU countries have committed to the implementation of the reinforced Youth guarantee in a Council Recommendation which steps up the comprehensive job support available to young people across the EU and makes it more targeted and inclusive.
Footnotes
- ↑ For the purpose of this article, the definition of people neither in education nor in employment is different from the one for NEET where people both in formal and/or in non-formal education and training are considered as being in education or training (for more information on this category of young people, refer to the article 'Statistics on young people neither in employment nor in education or training').
- ↑ Apprentices and trainees have been defined in detail in the EU Labour Force Survey Explanatory Notes in line with the regulations in force from 1 January 2021.
- ↑ International Standard Classification of Education 2011, paragraph 36, page 11.
Explore further
Other articles
Thematic section
Publications
- EU Labour Force Survey — online publication
- Youth in Europe
- Labour force survey in the EU, EFTA and candidate countries — Main characteristics of national surveys, 2020, 2022 edition
- Quality report of the European Union Labour Force Survey 2020, 2022 edition
- European Union Labour Force Survey - selection of articles (Statistics Explained)
Methodology
- Employment and unemployment (Labour Force Survey) (ESMS metadata file — employ_esms)