Archive:Employment - quarterly statistics

Data extracted in January 2021

Planned article update: April 2021

Highlights

After a sharp fall from 73.1 % in the last quarter of 2019 to 72.1 % in the second quarter of 2020, the EU employment rate went up to 72.4% in the third quarter of 2020.

Smaller recovery in the employment rate from Q2 2020 to Q3 2020 for young people (+0.1 p.p.) than for people aged 25-54 (+0.4 p.p.) or 55-64 (+0.5 p.p.)

Across EU Member States, variations in the employment rate between the last quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2020 ranged from a decrease of 3.1 p.p. in Estonia to an increase of 0.8 p.p. in Malta.

Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q)

The recent health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted employment in the European Union. In order to keep the negative consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on employment and businesses at bay, measures like short-time work or financial support to enterprises have been implemented in many EU Member States. In the first weeks of the crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this kept employed people relatively secure in their jobs thus, avoiding mass layoffs. However, this first stage was already marked by reduced inflows into employment. Enterprises might have slowed down, revised or cancelled their hiring process or might have decided to not renewing fixed-term contracts or probationary periods for example. These specific effects affecting directly young people were clearly visible during the second quarter of 2020 as further explained in this article. On the other hand, the third quarter of 2020 is characterised by the reduction of the containment measures in many countries and the subsequent upturn of activity, although to a different extent according to the countries and the sectors of activity. Young people also seems to benefit less from the recovery than the rest of the population.

This article focuses on the changes in employment observed during the crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic based on the quarterly data from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS). It shows the recent and long term developments as regards employment, mostly on a global European level, but also specifically according to gender, age and level of educational attainment. A specific analysis dedicated to the evolution of temporary contracts and part-time work, including underemployed part-time workers, is also presented in this article.

Another article complements this article with a detailed analysis on the evolution of the employed population by occupation, sector of economic activity, age, level of educational attainment and professional status, by EU Member State. Both articles are part of the publication Labour market in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current version of these articles focuses on the evolution of employment from the last quarter 2019 to the third quarter of 2020, i.e. from October-December 2019 to July-September 2020. In April 2021, they will be reviewed in order to include data on the fourth quarter of 2020.

_{Note: This article mainly uses seasonally adjusted data. Given that the adjustment model applies to the whole time series, figures released for previous quarters may have changed with the inclusion in the model of this last quarter (third quarter of 2020). Please also take note that figures presented in this article may differ in some cases from the source data due to continuous revision of the Eurostat database (Employment and unemployment (Labour Force Survey)).}

Full article

Modest upturn in employment in Q3 2020

After the strongest decline ever recorded since 2000 (-1.0 p.p.), the employment rate rose by 0.3 p.p. from the second to the third quarter 2020 reaching 72.4 %

Since 2013, the share of employed people in the total EU population kept on growing from one quarter to the next until the third quarter of 2019 (using seasonally adjusted data). For the first time in six years, in Q3 2019, it lost 0.2 p.p. compared with Q2 2020. The employment rate remained consecutively stable in the two next quarters (from the third to the fourth quarter of 2019 and from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2020). However, from the first quarter of 2020 (Q1 2020) to the second quarter of 2020 (Q2 2020), the share of people in employment went down from 73.1 % to 72.1 % (-1.0 p.p.), recording the sharpest cut since 2000 (see Figure 1). From the second to the third quarter of 2020, the employment rate rose by 0.3 p.p., far from compensating the decrease recorded in the previous quarter.

Moreover, the employment of men and women decreased to a different extent between Q4 2019 and Q3 2020 (see Figure 3). In the last quarter of 2019, 78.9 % of the total male population and 67.3 % of the total female population aged between 20-64 were employed, this share went down to 78.1 % in the third quarter of 2020 for men (-0.8 p.p.) and to 66.6 % for women (-0.7 p.p.).

A relevant finding that can be noticed in Figure 1 is about the labour force (also called the active population), which includes both employed and unemployed people. It is worth noting that the share of the labour force in the total population, after a cut by 0.8 p.p. between the first to the second quarter of 2020 reached again 78.0 %. Unlike employment, it therefore almost regained the same level as in Q4 2019 which was 78.1 %. This might be explained by the number of people who likely gave up their job search during Q2 2020 so, did not fulfill the ILO criteria to be considered as unemployed and part of the labour force. However, those people started again to look for a job in Q3 2020 and, therefore, reintegrated the labour force.

Figure 1: Evolution of employment and active population in the EU
(people aged 20-64, Q1 2000-Q3 2020, in % of the total population)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q)

In the third quarter of 2020, 72.4 % of people aged 20-64 were employed in the EU. In terms of comparison, in the first quarter of 2000, which is the starting point of the time series as displayed in Figure 1, less than two thirds of the total population aged between 20 and 64 was in employment (65.2 %). The increase over these last 20 years is mainly explained by the substantial and steady growth of the employment of senior people (aged 55-64) until the second quarter of 2019, increasing from 34.7 % in Q1 2000 to 59.2 % in Q2 2019. It remained stable between Q2 2019 and Q3 2019 and increased again to reach 59.7 % in Q1 2020 as can be observed in Figure 2. However, the employment rate of seniors decreased in Q2 2020 as further explained in this article.

Figure 2: Evolution of employment and active population by age group in the EU
(Q1 2000-Q3 2020, in % of the total population)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q)

Drastic decline in the employment rate in the vast majority of EU Member States

In the third quarter of 2020, there were only two EU Member States where the employment rate of people aged 20-64 was above 80%, namely Sweden and Germany (80.4 % for both) (see Figure 3). Please refer to the methodological note on German data related to Q1, Q2 and Q3 2020 in the section "Data sources". By contrast, the lowest employment rates were reported in Greece (61.2 %), Italy (62.2 %) and Spain (65.6 %), where fewer than two out of three persons were employed in the same period.

Actually, 24 out of the 27 Member States registered a lower level of employment in the total population in Q3 2020 compared with Q4 2019. However, the employment rate fluctuated to a different extent among the EU Member States between these two quarters. In Estonia, the employment rate went down from 81.1 % to 78.0 %, corresponding to a decrease of 3.1 p.p. Decreases of 2 p.p. or greater were also registered in Spain (-2.0 p.p.) and Lithuania (-2.4 p.p.). In Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Italy, Cyprus, Sweden, Ireland and Portugal, the decrease was between 1 p.p. and 2 p.p. By contrast, the employment rate increased by 0.8 p.p., 0.4 p.p. and 0.2 p.p. respectively, in Malta, Poland and Germany.

Figure 3: Employment rate by sex and country, Q3 2020
(people aged 20-64, in % of the total population)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q)

Figure 4: Change in the employment rate by sex and country
(people aged 20-64, Q3 2020 compared with Q4 2019, in percentage points)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q)

Differences in the development of the employment rates of men and women are more or less pronounced across countries, and not systematically in favour of men or women, as displayed in Figure 4. Among the 20 EU Member States where the male and female employment rate decreased differently, four recorded a gap between the evolution of their male and female employment rates higher than or equal to 1 p.p. For example, in Portugal, the employment rate decreased by 3.0 p.p. for men but by 0.9 p.p. for women, showing the highest difference between men and women among the EU Member States (2.1 p.p. difference). Also in Luxembourg, although to a lesser extent, the male employment rate dropped by 1.9 p.p. while the female employment rate decreased by 0.3 p.p. (1.6 p.p. difference). By contrast, the decrease of the female employment rate exceeded by 1.1 p.p. the decrease recorded for men in Slovenia and Cyprus.

Young people still hard hit by the health crisis

Employment rate of young people (aged 15-24) went down in all EU Member States, from -0.2 p.p. in Luxembourg to -6.3 p.p. in Slovenia

In the European Union, employed young people aged 15-24 accounted for 14.4 million people, which corresponds to 7.5 % of the total employed people aged 15-64, in the third quarter of 2020. This proportion was 7.9 % three quarters earlier, in Q4 2019.

Since the third quarter of 2015 until the third quarter of 2018, the employment rate among young people (aged 15-24) increased continuously from one quarter to the next, reaching 33.2 % in Q3 2018. Then, it decreased by 0.1 p.p. in Q4 2018 and rose again to reach 33.8 % in the second quarter of 2019. Then, it started declining showing these consecutive decreases: -0.1 p.p. in Q3 2019, -0.4 p.p. in Q4 2019 and -0.5 p.p. in Q1 2020. In the next quarter i.e. Q2 2020, the employment rate of young people registered a drop of 1.6 p.p., thus reaching a rate of 31.2 % which was by far the most substantial variation recorded from a quarter to another for young people since 2000. In the third quarter of 2020, employed young people stood for 31.3 % of the total population aged between 15-24, so +0.1 p.p. compared with the previous quarter.

The decrease between Q4 2019 and Q3 2020 is quite similar for young men and young women. While the employment rate shrank for young men by 1.9 p.p. between Q4 2019 and Q3 2020, reaching 33.7 % in Q3 2020, it decreased by 2.1 p.p. for young women, reaching 28.8 % in Q3 2020 (see Figure 5).

Figure 5: Employment rate by age group and sex in the EU
(Q1 2000-Q3 2020, in % of the total population)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q)

Among EU Member States, more than half of the young people were employed in the third quarter of 2020 in the Netherlands, in Denmark and in Austria (61.6 %, 53.5 % and 50.8 % respectively) while in Bulgaria, Spain, Italy and Greece, less than two out of 10 people aged between 15 and 24 were employed over the same period (see Figure 6). All EU Member states registered a decline in the employment of young people. The most substantial drops in the employment rate of youngsters between Q4 2019 and Q3 2020 were reported by Slovenia, Sweden and Portugal where the decrease exceeded 5 p.p (-6.3 p.p. in Slovenia, -5.4 p.p. in Sweden and -5.3 p.p. in Portugal). These results can be seen in Figure 7. Three other countries registered a decrease between 4 p.p. and 5 p.p. i.e. Poland (-4.5 p.p.), Lithuania (-4.6 p.p.) and Ireland (-4.7 p.p.).

Figure 6: Employment rate by age group and country, Q3 2020
(in % of the total population)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q)

Figure 7: Change in the employment rate by age group and country
(Q3 2020 compared with Q4 2019, in percentage points)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q)

Moreover, in the EU, almost three in four employed people (73.7 %) were aged between 25 and 54 in the third quarter of 2020 as well as in the last quarter of 2019. This age category stood for 140.9 million people in Q3 2020. Among people in this middle age group, 79.8 % were employed in Q3 2020 against 80.6 % in Q4 2019 as well as in Q1 2020 and 79.4 % in Q2 2020. For men aged 25-54, the rate went down between the last quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2020 from 86.3 % to 85.6 %, while for women aged 25-54, it dropped from 74.9 % to 74.0 % over the same period.

Regarding people aged 55-64, they stood for 35.9 million people in Q3 2020, which means 18.8 % of the total employed people. Actually, this proportion rose compared to the last quarter of 2019, when they accounted for 18.3 % of the total employed population. Over almost 10 years between Q4 2009 and Q1 2020, the sustained growth of the share of employed people aged 55-64 from one quarter to the next was clearly visible at EU level (apart from Q2 to Q3 2019, when it remained stable). This upward trend in the share of workers aged 55-64 is partially explained by the job retention for this sub-population, insofar as effective retirement age has risen in many countries in the last two decades. However, in 2019, the employment rate for people aged 55-64 did not grow between the second and the third quarter, despite having been common to record growth around 0.4 p.p. from one quarter to the next in previous years. From Q3 2019 to Q4 2019, the share of employed people aged 55-64 increased by 0.4 p.p., reaching 59.6 % in Q4 2019. Approximately, the same employment level of people aged 55-64 has been maintained to the next quarter (i.e. 59.7 % in Q1 2020). And for the first time since Q3 2009, the proportion of employed people in the population aged 55-64 decreased in Q2 2020, precisely by 0.5 p.p., reaching 59.2 % in that quarter. However, from the second to the third quarter of 2020, the employment rate grew again by 0.5 p.p. and retrieved its highest level ever recorded i.e. 59.7 %).

Men aged 55-64 registered a decrease of 0.1 p.p. between Q4 2019 and Q3 2020, resulting in 66.3 % of the male population aged 55-64 being employed in Q3 2020, while women of that age recorded a rise of 0.3 p.p., leading to 53.4 % of women aged 55-64 in employment in Q3 2020. This age category might have been less affected by the halt in recruiting during the lock-down than young people and in the first stages of the economic crisis, but may be more fragile against mass dismissals in the medium and long term.

Disparate employment rates for men and women with low, medium and high educational attainment level

The employment evolution by sex and educational attainment level over the period Q1 2005 - Q3 2020 shows noticeable differences, both for men and women (aged 20-64), according to their level of educational attainment (see Figure 8). First, the employment rate of men with a high educational level (i.e. tertiary education) is always higher than the employment rate of men with a medium (i.e. at most upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education) or low educational level (i.e. less than primary, primary or lower secondary education, at most). This was also the case for women. In the same way, people with a medium educational level are proportionately more employed than people with a low educational level. Finally, the lower the educational attainment level, the wider the gap between the employment rates of men and women.

As regards people with a high educational level, they accounted for 31.6 % of the total population but for 36.6 % of the total employment in Q3 2020. Men and women follow roughly the same developments over time, and maintain a permanent gap between their respective employment rates. Nevertheless, the gender employment gap for those with a high educational level slightly narrowed over time: from 7.9 p.p. in Q1 2005 to 6.0 p.p. in Q2 2020 and went up to 6.3 p.p. In the third quarter of 2020, 87.2 % of men and 80.9 % of women with a high educational level were employed. Women with high educational level has the special feature to be the category for which the employment rate decreased the least from Q4 2019 to Q3 2020 (-1.0 p.p.). However this is also the only one for which no increase has been recorded from the second to the third quarter of 2020 while the employment rate of men with a high educational level grew by 0.3 p.p.

Focusing on men and women with a medium level of educational attainment, they stood for almost half of the total population (48.2 %), similar to the share found in the total employment (47.8 %) in Q3 2020. Their employment rate also followed the same trend over the period Q1 2005 - Q3 2020, although the fluctuations were slightly more or less pronounced for men or women. The employment rate of women with a medium educational level was never above or equal to the one of men. A gender employment gap was present over the whole period Q1 2005 - Q3 2020. It corresponded to 13.3 p.p. in Q1 2005, the record low was 11.4 p.p. in Q1 2014 and in Q2 2015, and finally the employment gap between men and women reached 12.5 p.p. in Q3 2020. In the third quarter of 2020, almost eight out of ten men with a medium educational level (77.9 %) were employed against less than two thirds of women (65.4 %). In Q2 2020, the male proportion was 1.7 p.p. lower compared with Q4 2019 but went slightly up (+0.4 p.p.) in Q3 2020. Women with a medium educational level recorded the sharpest drop from Q4 2019 to Q2 2020 (-2.0 p.p.) and a moderate increase of 0.3 p.p. from Q2 2020 to Q3 2020.

With respect to people with a low level of educational attainment, they represent 19.9 % of the total population at EU level in Q3 2020. However, referring to the population in employment, the low educational level category only accounted for 15.1 %. This means that people having only attained a low level of education had less chance in Q3 2020 to be in employment that people with a higher level of educational attainment.

The employment rate of men with a low educational level corresponded to 65.4 % in Q3 2020. In other words, this is slightly less than two out of three men with a low level of educational attainment who were employed in the third quarter of 2020. For women, the employment rate was 43.4 %, meaning that less than half of women with a low educational attainment level were employed. The gap between men and women was 26.1 p.p. in Q1 2005, shrank to 18.5 p.p. in Q3 2013, and widened again to 22.2 p.p. in Q2 2019. Between Q1 and Q2 2020, it slightly went down again to 21.8 p.p. and grew to reach 22.0 in Q3 2020. As for people with a medium educational level, the gender gap narrowed when the total employment was reducing and it widened when the total employment was on the upswing.

Figure 8: Employment rate by sex and educational attainment level in the EU
(people aged 20-64, Q1 2005-Q3 2020, in % of the total population)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_educ_q)

Weak recovery in Q3 2020 after a sharp drop in temporary contracts and part-time employment

Cut of more than one temporary contract out of ten

Slightly more than one out of 10 employed persons in the EU-27 were employed under temporary contracts in Q3 2020, precisely 10.4 %, against 11.6 % in Q4 2019. From Q2 2013 to Q2 2017, temporary contracts had a slight positive trend, reaching 23.4 million people and accounting for 12.5 % of the total employment from Q2 2017 to Q4 2017. Since then, the temporary contracts in the total employment showed a slight downward trend and went down to 11.3 % in Q1 2020. From Q1 2020 to Q2 2020, this proportion of temporary contracts sharply fell to 10.3 % of the total employment in Q3 2020 and reached 10.4 % in Q3 2020, corresponding to 19.6 million persons (see Figure 9).

In the European Union, the number of employed people dropped by 3.0 million from the last quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2020. Specifically, the number of employed people with temporary contracts shrank by 2.6 million, falling from 22.2 to 19.6 million. This corresponds to decrease of 11.8%. The fall in temporary contracts accounted for 87.0 % of the total decrease in employment. This also contributed to emphasize the decline in youth employment. Indeed, in the third quarter of 2020, young people aged 15-24 accounted for 28.8% of the total temporary contracts but for 7.5% of the total employment among people aged 15-64. Reciprocally, 46.2 % in the last quarter of 2019 and 42.9% in the third quarter of 2020 of employed young people had temporary contracts. This phenomenon, in addition to the expected decrease in hiring, might have strongly affected the youth employment (see detailed figures in the here also available under the section "Source data for tables and graphs" below).

Figure 9: Evolution of part-time employment and temporary contracts Vs total employment in the EU
(people aged 20-64, Q1 2008-Q3 2020, in thousand persons)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_pt_q)

Among EU Member States for which data is available (all except Germany), Spain (19.7 %), Portugal (14.4 %) and Poland (14.1 %) registered the highest shares of temporary contracts in Q3 2020, each exceeding 14% of the total employment (see Figure 10).

Between the last quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2020, 24 out of the 26 EU countries with available data registered a decrease in the share of temporary contracts in the total employment. At EU level, it decreased by 1.2 p.p. In Denmark, the proportion of temporary contracts faintly grew from 8.5 % to 8.7 % (+0.2 p.p.) as well as in Lithuania (+0.1 p.p.). By contrast, the sharpest decreases were reported in Portugal (-2.8 p.p.), Poland (-2.1 p.p.) and Greece (-2.0 p.p.).

Figure 10: Temporary contracts by country
(people aged 20-64, Q4 2019 and Q3 2020, in % of total employment)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_pt_q)

Fewer part-time workers in a majority of EU Member States

In the EU-27, 31.3 million people reported part-time employment in the third quarter of 2020, corresponding to 16.6 % of the total employment (see Figure 11). From Q1 2008 to Q1 2015, the overall upward trend of part-time employment is relatively smooth and continued: part-time employment accounted for 29.5 million people, corresponding to 15.9 % of the total employment, in the first quarter of 2008, and reached 33.2 million, corresponding to 18.3 % of the total employment, in the first quarter of 2015. From Q2 2015 onward, the proportion of part-time workers slightly decreased although the number of these workers itself might have increased.

Based on the 26 EU Member States for which data is available, the proportion of part-time workers in the total employment grew in eight countries, was stable in two and dropped in 16 countries between Q4 2019 and Q3 2020. The sharpest decreases were observed in Malta (-1.7 p.p.), Ireland (-1.7 p.p.) and Latvia (-1.1 p.p.). By contrast, the proportion of part-time workers in the total employment registered an increase of around 1 p.p. in Luxembourg (+1.3 p.p.), in the Netherlands (0.9 p.p.) and in Slovenia (+0.8 p.p.).

Another relevant aspect related to part-time employment is the underemployed part-time workers; these are persons working part-time, wishing to work additional hours and are available to do so. At EU level, underemployed part-time workers accounted for 3.1 % of the total employment in Q4 2019 and for 3.3 % in Q3 2020. Nevertheless, at country level, the share of underemployed part-time workers decreased by 0.5 p.p. or more in Malta and Greece, reaching 1.2 % and 5.4 % of the total employment respectively. By contrast, rises higher than 0.5 p.p. in the proportion of underemployed part-time workers in the total employment were observed in Slovenia (+0.7 p.p.) and in Austria, Italy and Sweden (all three, +0.6 p.p.).

Figure 11: Part-time employment and underemployed part-time workers by country
(people aged 20-64, Q4 2019 and Q3 2020, in % of total employment)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_pt_q) and (lfsi_sup_q)

Source data for tables and graphs

Employment (general) Q3 2020: tables and figures

Data sources

All figures in this article are based on seasonally adjusted quarterly results from the European Union 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 and over 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 countries.

European aggregates: EU refers to the sum of the 27 EU Member States.

Country note: In Germany, from the first quarter of 2020 onwards, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) is part of a new system of integrated household surveys. Unfortunately, technical issues and the COVID-19 crisis has had a large impact on data collection processes, resulting in low response rates and a biased sample. For this reason, additional data from other integrated household surveys has been used in addition to the LFS subsample, to estimate a restricted set of indicators for the first three quarters of 2020, for the production of LFS Main Indicators. These estimates have been used for the publication of German results, but also in the calculation of EU and EA aggregates. By contrast, EU and EA aggregates published in the Detailed quarterly results (showing more and different breakdowns than the LFS Main Indicators) have been computed using only available data from the LFS subsample. As a consequence, small differences in the EU and EA aggregates in tables from both collections may be observed. For more information, see here.

Definitions: The concepts and definitions used in the Labour Force Survey follow the guidelines of the International Labour Organisation.

Five different articles on detailed technical and methodological information are linked from the overview page of the online publication EU Labour Force Survey.

Context

The COVID-19 health crisis hit Europe in January and February 2020, with the first cases confirmed in Spain, France and Italy. COVID-19 infections have now been diagnosed in all European Union (EU) Member States. To fight the pandemic, EU Member States have taken a wide variety of measures. From the second week of March, most countries closed retail shops apart from supermarkets, pharmacies and banks. Bars, restaurants and hotels have also been closed. In Italy and Spain, non-essential production was stopped and several countries imposed regional or even national lock-down measures which further stifled the economic activities in many areas. In addition, schools were closed, public events were cancelled and private gatherings (with numbers of persons varying from 2 to 50) were banned in most Member States.

The large majority of the prevention measures were taken during mid-March 2020 and most of the prevention measures and restrictions were kept for the whole of April and May 2020. The second quarter of 2020 is consequently the quarter in which the labour market across the EU has been strongly affected by COVID-19 measures taken by the Member States.

Employment and unemployment as defined by the ILO concept are, in this particular situation, not sufficient to describe the developments taking place in the labour market. In this first phase of the crisis, active measures to contain employment losses led to absences from work rather than dismissals, and individuals could not search for work or were not available due to the containment measures, thus not counting as unemployed.

The quarterly data on employment will allow along the quarters to report on the impact of the crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic on employment. This specific article focuses on the age and the level of education attainment of employed people in order to determine potential categories more or less affected by the economic downturn. It also shows the evolution of part-time employment and temporary contracts. Another article on the evolution of employment by activity and professional status is also available in the context of the publication Labour market in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.