Last updated: 5 November 2024.
Highlights
This subchapter on the labour market is 1 of 9 thematic subchapters that provide a comprehensive glossary of variable definitions used within city statistics. The glossary is designed to ensure a clear understanding and interpretation of data disseminated by Eurostat, thereby improving the clarity of data requirements for the providers of these statistics in national statistical offices, while supporting the standardisation of statistical concepts across Europe.
This subchapter forms part of Eurostat’s City statistics manual.
Labour market
Labour market indicators are obtained from the labour force survey where the definitions used are common to all EU countries and are based on international recommendations provided by the International Labour Organization (ILO). All of the variables under the heading of the labour market are residence-based, not workplace-based. As such, the data presented provide a measure of the labour market situation for people living in a city (irrespective of their workplace), and should exclude commuters.
Statistics on the economically active population, by sex and age (EC1001V–EC1003V for the whole population, EC1174V–EC1176V for people aged 20–64) cover people in the labour market, in other words, employed and unemployed people. The data are presented for the whole population and for people aged 20 to 64 years; a breakdown is provided for male and female members of the economically active population. These statistics exclude people who are outside the labour force (economically inactive population), for example, students, the long-term sick, permanently disabled people, retired people, national armed services (not currently active in duty) and other people not seeking to enter the labour force.
Statistics on employed people, by sex (EC1077V–EC1079V) are provided for the subpopulation aged 20 to 64 years (in completed years at the end of the reference week). People are considered employed if, during the reference week, they fall into 1 of the following categories
- worked for at least 1 hour for pay or profit – this includes contributing family workers who are engaged in the family business or farm without direct pay
- had a job or business, but were temporarily not at work – this applies to people with a clear attachment to their job, falling into the following groups
- individuals absent due to holidays, working time arrangements, sick leave, maternity or paternity leave
- individuals in job-related training
- people on parental leave who either receive or are entitled to job-related income or benefits, or whose parental leave is expected to last 3 months or less
- seasonal workers during the off-season who regularly continue to perform tasks and duties related to their job or business, excluding those fulfilling only legal or administrative obligations
- individuals temporarily not at work for other reasons, provided the expected duration of the absence is 3 months or less
- produced agricultural goods primarily for sale or barter – this includes people engaged in agricultural activities with the primary intention of selling or trading their produce.
Statistics on unemployed people, by sex (EC1010V–EC1012V) are defined as
- individuals, aged 15 to 74 years
- not employed during the reference week (according to the definition of employment)
- currently available for work, meaning they are available for paid employment or self-employment before the end of the 2 weeks following the reference week
- actively seeking work, which means they have either engaged in activities during the 4-week period ending with the reference week to find paid employment or self-employment, or they have secured a job that is set to begin within a period of at most 3 months from the end of the reference week.
Legislation in force and other documents
- Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples
- Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 specifying the technical items of the data set, establishing the technical formats for transmission of information and specifying the detailed arrangements and content of the quality reports on the organisation of a sample survey in the labour force domain
Source data for tables and graphs
Explore further
Database
- City statistics (urb), see:
- Cities and greater cities (urb_cgc)
- Functional urban areas (urb_luz)
- Perception survey results (urb_percep)