Archive:Labour force survey overview 2012

This publication presents annual averages of the main results of the EU Labour Force Survey for the EU-27 and for all Member States. Indicators presented in this publication are: employment rates, part-time employment as share of total employment, number of employed people broken down by economic activity and by occupation of the main job, average of hours usually worked by week, percentage of employees with limited duration contract, number of self-employed persons broken down by economic activity, self-employed persons as a share of total employment, unemployment rate, percentage of unemployed for one year and more, and youth unemployment ratio.

Figure 1: Employment rate of persons aged 15-64 years, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (lfsa_ergan)

Main statistical findings

In general key figures continued to show negative trends or stayed stable to the year before. The EU employment rate for persons of working age (15-64) was down slightly by 0.1 p.p. to 64.2% (see figure 1). For men, it fell to 69.8% (-0.3p.p.), and for women it rose marginally to 58.6% (+0.1 p.p.). This publication presents the main results of the EU Labour Force Survey for the year 2012. The employment rate for the population aged 15 -64 was higher than the EU average (64.2%) in eleven EU Member States. The highest rates were recorded by the Netherlands (75.1%), Sweden (73.8%), Germany (72.8%), Denmark (72.8%), and Austria (72.5%). However, there were ten Member States that did not reach 60%. The lowest employment rates were observed in Greece (51.3%), Spain (55.4%), Italy (56.8%) and Hungary (57.2%). The employment rates for the EFTA countries were above 75%, with Iceland and Switzerland recording 79.7% and 79.4% respectively in 2012. Compared with 2011, the employment rate increased only in two countries by 2p.p. or more Latvia (2.3p.p.) and Estonia (+2.0p.p.). On the other hand, the employment rate fell by more than 2 p.p. in Spain (-2.3p.p.), Portugal (-2.4p.p.), Cyprus (-3.0p.p.) and Greece (-4.3p.p.).

The employment rate for the narrower age group of 20-64 year-olds is used as one of the headline indicators in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy . The EU employment rate for persons in this age class fell in 2012 by 0.1p.p. to 68.5%, and was well below the target rate of 75% (Europe 2020 strategy) by 2020. The EU employment rate for the 20-64 age group was 74.6% for men and 62.4% for women.

Employment, employment rates of the elderly, and part-time employment

Table 1: Employed persons: number, employment rates and share of part-time employment, by sex, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (lfsa_egan) (lfsa_ergan) (lfsa_eppga)

The labour force in the EU (i.e. the total of employed and unemployed persons) reached 241.1 million persons in 2012, which was an increase of 1.1 million, or 0.4% compared with 2011. The number of persons in employment fell by around 1.0 million, to 216.1 million persons in 2012; in absolute terms the decrease in the number of employed men (-0.8 million persons) was around four times bigger than for employed women (-0.2 million persons) (see Table 1).

The employment rate of persons aged 55-64 rose in the EU to 48.9% (+1.5 p.p. compared with 2011). It increased to 41.8% for women (+1.6 p.p.) and to 56.4% for men (+1.2 p.p.). Sweden recorded a very high employment rate of 73.0% in this age group. The countries with the lowest employment rate for persons aged 55-64 were Slovenia (32.9%), Malta (33.6%), Greece (36.4%) and Hungary (36.9%).

Part-time employment continued its upward trend in 2012. Its share of total employment reached 19.2% in the EU, up by 0.4 p.p. from 2011. Among the EU countries part-time was highest in the Netherlands (49.2% of employed persons) and lowest in Bulgaria (2.2%) and Slovakia (4.0%). The share of women in part-time employment in the EU (32.1%) is about four times bigger than that for men (8.4%).

Structure of employment by economic activity of the main job

Table 2: Employed persons aged 15 years and older: composition by economic activity (main job), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (lfsa_egan2)

In 2012, 70.1% of employed persons in the EU worked in services: 39.6% produced market-oriented services such as trade, transportation, accommodation and food services, information and financial activities and real estate. 30.5% were employed in public administration, education, human health, arts, entertainment and recreation and other services. 24.9% of employed persons worked in industry and construction, while 5.0% worked in agriculture (see Table 2).

Differences still persist between the EU Member States. Agriculture1 continues to be a very significant source of employment in Romania (29.0% of the working population in 2012), whereas it accounts for only a very small share (below 2%) in Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Malta. The relevance of industry (manufacture and construction) was highest in the Czech Republic (38.1%) and Slovakia (37.5%), and lowest in Luxembourg (12.7%). The share of market services was highest in Cyprus (48.0%), and non-market services were most prominent in Luxembourg (42.6%). 44.6% of the women employed in the EU worked in non-market services and 12.5% in industry (including construction). For men, the picture is almost the opposite, as 35.2% worked in industry and 18.6% in non-market services. The percentage of women and men in market services was nearly the same (38.8% and 40.3% respectively).

Structure of employment by occupation in the main job

Table 3: Employed persons aged 15 years and older: composition by occupation (main job), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (lfsa_egais)

Skilled non-manual workers (i.e. legislators, senior officials, managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals) were the largest occupational group in the EU in 2012, accounting for 40.1% of all employed persons. Luxembourg had the highest share, at 57.8%.

Low-skilled non-manual workers (e.g. clerks, service, shop and market sales workers) and skilled manual workers (e.g. plant and machine operators, craft workers) accounted for 27.1% and 23.7% respectively of EU total employment. In 2012, Spain recorded the highest value for the low-skilled non-manual occupational group, at 32.5%, and Romania for skilled manual workers (49.5%).

9.1% of employed persons in the EU had an elementary occupation, Cyprus recorded the highest share (17.1%). The percentage of men and women who worked as skilled non-manual workers was fairly similar (38.9% and 41.6% respectively). The groups of skilled manual and low-skilled non-manual workers recorded bigger differences, with 36.3% of men working as skilled manual workers and 17.3% as low-skilled non-manual workers. For women it was almost the opposite (8.7% skilled manual workers and 38.7% low-skilled non-manual workers) (see Table 3).

Main characteristics of employees

Table 4: Employees aged 15 and older: number, average hours usually worked per week and share of temporary contracts (main job), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (lfsa_egaps) (lfsa_etpga) (lfsa_ewhun2)

Employees accounted for 83.3% of total EU employment in 2012 (see Table 4). Their share exceeded 90% of all employed persons in Estonia (91.4%), Luxembourg (91.0%) and Denmark (90.9%). It fell below 70% in both Greece (63.2%) and Romania (67.3%).

Employees on a full-time regime usually worked 40.4 hours per week in 2012. In the United Kingdom and Austria, full-time employees worked longer weekly hours, 42.3 and 41.8 respectively; whereas the usual weekly hours worked by full-time employees were below 39.0 in Denmark (37.6), Ireland (38.7) and Italy respectively. The usual weekly hours worked by part-time employees amounted to 20.1 on average in the EU in 2012. They were highest in Romania (24.8), Sweden and Belgium (24.3) and lowest in Portugal (17.6), Germany (18.3), Denmark (18.5) and Spain (18.6).

Employees with temporary work contracts accounted for 13.7% of all employees in the EU. The highest share was in Poland (26.9%) and Spain (23.6%), but it was below 5% in Romania (1.7%), Lithuania (2.6%), Estonia (3.7%), Bulgaria (4.5%) and Latvia (4.7%).

Main characteristics of self-employed persons

Table 5: Self-employed persons aged 15 years and older: number, share of total employment, by status, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (lfsa_egaps) (lfsa_esgan2)

Self-employed persons accounted for 15.2% of total EU employment in 2012 (see Table 5). The highest shares of self-employed persons were recorded in Greece (31.9%), Italy (23.4%), Portugal (21.1%) and Romania (20.1%). The lowest shares were registered in Estonia (8.3%), Luxembourg (8.4%), Denmark (8.9%) and Lithuania (9.7%). 28.3% of self-employed persons in the EU have employed staff. Among these, the shares were highest in Hungary (46.5%), Estonia (43.6%), Germany (42.9%) and Austria (41.7%).

Self-employed persons worked mainly in market services (46.1%) with the highest shares in Spain (57.6%), Italy (56.1%) and Malta (55.5%). In agriculture there are major discrepancies between countries. Agriculture was a relatively important economic activity for self-employed persons in Romania (71.9%), Poland (43.0%), Lithuania (41.4%) and Portugal (39.9%), whereas it accounted for less than a 5% share in Slovakia (3.5%), the Czech Republic (4.4%) and the United Kingdom (4.4%).

The highest share of self-employed persons in total employment is in the age group of 65 and above (49.0%). This is probably because self-employed persons keep their business longer and postpone retirement, as compared to employees in that age group, or remain involved in some agricultural activity for their personal consumption after retirement.

Unemployment

Table 6: Unemployed persons: number, unemployment rate, share of long-term unemployment and youth unemployment ratio, by sex, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (lfsa_ugan) (lfsa_upgal) (lfsa_pganws) (lfsi_act_a)

Unemployment rose in the EU by 2.0 million persons in 2012 to reach 25.1 million (see Table 6). The increase affected both women and men. For women, it rose by 0.9 million persons to 11.5 million, and for men by 1.1 million to 13.6 million.

The EU unemployment rate in 2012 was 10.4%, growing on average by 0.8 p.p. compared with 2011. In 2012, the rate ranged from 4.3% in Austria, 5.1% Luxembourg 5.1%, 5.3% in the Netherlands and 5.5% in Germany to 25.0% in Spain, followed by Greece (24.3%), and Portugal (15.9%). 44.4% of unemployed persons in the EU in 2012 had been without work for 12 months or longer. Those long-term unemployed accounted for over half of total unemployment in Slovakia (67.3%), Ireland (61.7%), Bulgaria (55.2%), Estonia, (54.1%), Italy (53.0%) and Latvia (51.9%), while the share was below 25% in Sweden (18.9%), Finland (21.4%) and Austria (24.8%).

In 2012, 9.7% of the young population aged 15-24 in the EU was unemployed. This is the unemployment ratio. While the unemployment rate is defined as the share of unemployed in the labour force, the unemployment ratio relates the number of unemployed of a given age to the total population of that age. The highest youth unemployment ratio was recorded in Spain (20.6%), Greece (16.1%), and Portugal (14.3%). The lowest ratios (6% or lower) were recorded in Germany, Luxembourg, and Austria.

Recent migration of non-national employed persons

Figure 2: Non-national employed persons aged 15 and older with two years or less residence in the country, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (LFS data extraction)

Among the employed migrants, around 1.0 million took their residence in an EU country within the last two years (see Table 7). Within this group 600 thousands persons were EU nationals from another Member State and 400 thousands were nationals from outside the EU. 38.1% of the recently migrated persons employed in the EU took residence in the United Kingdom, 21.7% in Germany, 7.1% in Belgium, 5% in Spain, 4.7% in France, 4.6% in Austria and 3.4% in Italy (see Figure 2). Compared with 2010, the total number of recently migrated persons in the EU recorded an increase of 6.5%. However the trends were very different across Member States.

EU Member States with a comparatively low unemployment rate recorded an increase of recently employed migrants in their country and those with a comparatively high unemployment rate recorded a decrease of their numbers. In Austria (96.2%) and in Germany (89.2%) the inflow of recently migrated persons nearly doubled. By contrast, it declined in Spain (-54.0%) and Italy (-14.9%) compared with 2010.

Employment and unemployment situation of non-nationals

Table 7: Non-national employed persons aged 15 and older with two years or less residence in the country, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (LFS data extraction)

Table 8: Employed_persons: number, employment and unemployment rates, by citizenship, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (lfsa_egan) (lfsa_ergan) (lfsa_urgan)

In 2012, 15.2 million non-nationals worked in the EU, accounting for 7.0% of the total EU employment. Among the employed migrants 6.5 million were nationals from another EU Member State and 8.6 million were nationals from outside the EU. The highest share of migrants among all the employed persons in the EU was recorded in Luxembourg (49.9%), Cyprus (22.7%) and Ireland (14.6%). With 23.7% Switzerland had also a relatively high share of employed migrants (see Table 8).

The employment rate of non-nationals coming from within the EU is significantly higher (67.7%) than that of non-nationals from outside the EU (53.7%). In16 Member States the employment rate of foreigners from within the EU is even higher than the rate of nationals. The highest rates showed Slovenia (80.2%), Latvia (76.6%), the Netherlands (76.1%), United Kingdom (75.9%) and Poland (75.8%). Among foreigners coming from a non EU country only the Czech Republic (73.0%) and Cyprus (73.4%) recorded an employment rate higher than 70%.

In the EU the unemployment rate is generally higher for foreigners than for nationals. In 2012, the unemployment rate for foreigners from another EU country was 12.5% on average in the EU and for foreigners coming from outside the EU the rate was almost twice as high (21.3%). The highest unemployment rate for foreigners coming from outside the EU was observed in Spain (38.6%), in Greece (35.2%) and Sweden (30.5%). Rates of around 10% or lower were recorded in the Czech Republic, in Cyprus, and in Austria.

Synoptic overview of different categories in the labour market

Figure 3: Labour status of persons aged 15 years and older, EU27, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (LFS data extraction)

Further Eurostat information

Database

• Database EU-LFS

Dedicated section

• Labour market (including Labour Force Survey)

Methodology / Metadata

Source: the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) is a large sample, quarterly survey providing results for the population in private households in the EU, EFTA, and the Candidate Countries. Conscripts in military or community service are not included in the results.

Reference period: Yearly results are obtained as annual averages of quarterly results.

Coverage: The data for France cover the metropolitan territory (excluding overseas regions)

The abbreviation MK used for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a provisional code which does not prejudice in any way the definitive nomenclature for this country, which will be agreed following the conclusion of negotiations currently taking place on this subject at the United Nations.

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

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

Employment (LFS concept) covers persons aged 15 years and over (16 and over in Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, 15-74 years in Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and 16-74 years in Iceland), living in private households, 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 example because of illness, holidays, industrial dispute or education and training. Employment rates are calculated for different age groups as a percentage of the population in the same age group.

The LFS employment concept differs from national accounts domestic employment, as the latter sets no limit on age or type of household, and also includes the non-resident population contributing to GDP and conscripts in military or community service.

Unemployment covers persons aged 15-74 (16-74 in Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Iceland) who were without work during the reference week, were currently available for work and had either been actively seeking work in the past four weeks or had already found a job to start within the next three months.

Long-term unemployment covers persons unemployed for one year or more. Youth unemployment is the unemployment among persons aged 15 to 24.

Definitions of indicators reported in this publication are available on the EU-LFS Statistics Explained website:

• European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS)

Classifications: Economic activity: the breakdown by economic activity is based on the classification NACE Rev 2 with the following correspondence: NACE section A - agriculture, sections B to F – industry (including construction), sections G to N - market services, and sections O to U - non-market services.

Occupation: The International Labour Organisation has revised the International Standard Classification of Occupations. The LFS uses the revised classification (ISCO 08) from 2011 onwards. The breakdown of employed persons by occupation is based on the classification ISCO 08 (groups 1 to 3 for 'skilled non manual', 4 to 5 for 'low skilled non manual', 6 to 8 for 'skilled manual' and 9 for 'elementary occupations'; armed forces are excluded from the calculations). Due to this revision, the 2011 results are not comparable with former years.

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Notes

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