European Union labour force survey : annual results 2012.
Date: 2013-06-10
Institutions: Eurostat
Subjects: EU Member State, EU statistics, employment statistics, labour force, labour market, monetary crisis, unemployment

Population and social conditions

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

Author: Martin TEICHGRABER

ISSN: 2314-9647

Catalogue number: KS-SF-13-014-EN-N

European Union Labour force survey - annual re-
sults 2012

Labour market and labour force statistics

This publication presents the main results of the EU Labour Force Survey for the EU-27 as a whole and
for all Member States for the year 2012. It covers important indicators such as the employment rate, part-time
employment as a share of total employment, number of employed persons by economic activity and occupation,
average weekly working hours, the percentage of employees with a limited duration contract, size and structure
of self-employment, unemployment rate, long-term unemployment and the youth unemployment ratio..

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

In 2012, the EU labour market was still being determined by the economic crisis. Key ﬁgures for the EU did
not improve: they either continued to show negative trends (unemployment) or remained relatively stable in
relation to the year before (employment). In addition, developments in the labour market did not aﬀect Member
States in the same way or to the same extent. As a result, the diﬀerences between Member States increased. The
2012 EU employment rate1for persons of working age (15-64) dropped slightly to 64.2% (- 0.1 pps compared with
2011). For men, it fell to 69.8% (-0.3 pps), while for women it rose marginally to 58.6% (+0.1 pps) (see Table 1).

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 (72.6%), and Austria (72.5%). By contrast, ten Member States 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 by 2 pps or more in two

1Employment rates represent employed persons (LFS concept, see methodological notes) as a percentage of the population in

the same age group.

countries: Latvia (2.3 pps) and Estonia (+2.0 pps). On the other hand, the employment rate fell by more than
2 pps in Spain (-2.3 pps), Portugal (-2.4 pps), Cyprus (-3.0 pps) and Greece (-4.3pps).

The employment rate for the narrower age group of 20-64 year-olds is used as one of the headline indica-
tors in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy2. The EU employment rate for persons in this age class fell in
2012 by 0.1 pps to 68.5%, well below the target rate of 75% (Europe 2020 strategy) by 2020.

In 2012, 216.1 million persons were employed in the EU
The labour force in the EU (i.e. the total of employed and unemployed persons) reached 241.1 million persons
in 2012, an increase of 1.1 million or 0.4% on 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 about four times higher than for employed women (-0.2 million persons) (see Table 1).

In contrast to the general trend, employment of older persons increased. The employment rate for those
aged 55-64 rose in the EU to 48.9% (+1.5 pps compared with 2011). It increased to 41.8% for women (+1.6
pps) and to 56.4% for men (+1.2 pps). Sweden recorded a very high employment rate of 73.0% in this age
group. The countries with the lowest employment rates 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 EU employment reached 19.2%,
up 0.4 pps on 2011.

Among the EU countries, part-time employment was highest in the Netherlands (49.2% of employed persons)
and lowest in Bulgaria (2.2%) and Slovakia (4.0%). The proportion of women in part-time employment in the
EU (32.1%) is about four times higher than that of men (8.4%).

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

2The European Strategy for a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (Europe 2020) aims to raise to 75% the employment rate
for men and women aged 20-64 for the EU as a whole. This headline target is translated into speciﬁc targets for each Member
State (see Conclusions of the European Council — 17 June 2010 ). For detailed data at EU and at national level for the 20-64 age
group, see the dedicated section on Europe 2020 indicators .

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

2

eurostat70.1% of the employed persons in the EU worked in the service sector
In 2012, more than two-thirds of all employed persons in the EU worked in services: 39.6% were involved
in 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 agriculture accounted for 5.0% (see
Table 2).

Sizeable diﬀerences still persist between Member States. Agriculture continues to be a 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 in-
dustry (manufacturing 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%).

Of the women employed in the EU, 44.6% worked in non-market services and 12.5% in industry (including
construction). For men, the picture is almost the reverse, as 35.2% worked in industry and 18.6% in non-market
services.

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

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

3

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

Skilled manual workers (e.g. plant and machine operators, craft workers) accounted for 23.7% of total EU
employment. In 2012, Romania (49.5%) recorded the highest proportion of skilled manual workers followed
by Poland (36.9%). The proportion of men and women working as skilled manual workers in the EU is quite
diﬀerent: 36.3% of all employed men and 8.7% of all employed women.

9.1% of employed persons in the EU had an elementary occupation, with Cyprus recording the highest share
(17.1%) (see Table 3).

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

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

4

eurostatWeekly working hours for full-time employees ranged from 38 hours to 42 hours in the
EU
Employees accounted for 83.3% of total EU employment in 2012. They accounted for more than 90% of all
employed persons in Estonia (91.4%), Luxembourg (91.0%) and Denmark (90.9%). The ﬁgure was below 70%
in both Greece (63.2%) and Romania (67.3%).

Full-time employees usually worked 40.4 hours per week in 2012. In the United Kingdom and Austria, full-time
employees worked the longest 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 and Italy (both 38.7). The usual weekly
hours worked by part-time employees amounted to 20.2 on average in the EU in 2012. They were highest in
Romania (24.8), Sweden and Belgium (24.3), and lowest in Portugal (17.7), Germany (18.3), Denmark (18.5)
and Spain (18.6) (see Table 4).

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%).

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)

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

5

eurostatIn the EU 15.2% of all employed persons were self-employed
Self-employed persons accounted for 15.2% of total EU employment in 2012 (see Table 5). The highest propor-
tion of self-employed persons was recorded in Greece (31.9%), Italy (23.4%), Portugal (21.1%) and Romania
(20.1%). The lowest proportion was 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. The rates for those with staﬀ
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 proportion in Spain (57.6%),
Italy (56.1%) and Malta (55.5%). In agriculture there are major discrepancies between countries. Agriculture
is 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 and the United Kingdom (both 4.4%).

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

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

6

eurostatThe unemployment rate in the EU was 10.4%. Almost half of all unemployed were
long-term unemployed
Unemployment rose in the EU by 2.0 million persons in 2012 to 25.1 million (see Table 6). The increase aﬀected
both women and men. The number of unemployed women rose by 0.9 million to 11.5 million, and for men it
increased by 1.1 million to 13.6 million. The EU unemployment rate in 2012 was 10.4%, an increase of 0.8 pps
on 2011. In 2012, the rate ranged from 4.3% in Austria, 5.1% in Luxembourg, 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 out of work for 12 months or longer. These long-
term unemployed accounted for over half of total unemployment in Slovakia (67.3%), Ireland (61.7%), Greece
(59.3%), 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, the unemployment ratio of the young population aged 15-24 in the EU was 9.7%. While theunemployment
rate is deﬁned as the share of unemployed in the labour force for an age group, theunemployment ratio relates
the number of unemployed of a given age to the total population of that age. The highest youth unemployment
ratios were recorded in Spain (20.6%), Greece (16.1%), and Portugal (14.3%). The lowest ratios (6% or lower)
were recorded in Germany, Luxembourg, Austria and the Czech Republic.

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

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

7

eurostat15.2 million foreign citizens worked in the EU, accounting for 7.0% of total EU employ-
ment
Among the 15.2 million employed foreign citizens, 6.6 million were citizens from another EU Member State and
8.6 million were non-EU citizens. The highest proportion of foreign citizens of all the employed persons in the
EU was recorded in Luxembourg (49.9%) and Cyprus (22.7%). Among the EFTA countries, Switzerland had a
relatively high share of employed foreign citizens (23.7%).

The employment rate for foreign citizens with an EU citizenship is signiﬁcantly higher (67.7%) than that
for non-EU citizens (53.7%). In sixteen Member States the employment rate for foreign citizens from within
the EU is even higher than the rate for nationals. Rates were highest in Slovenia, Latvia, the Netherlands, the
United Kingdom and Poland. Among foreign citizens with a citizenship from a non-EU country, only the Czech
Republic and Cyprus recorded an employment rate above 70% (see Table 7).

In the EU the unemployment rate is generally higher for foreign citizens than for nationals.
In 2012, the
EU unemployment rate for foreign citizens with a citizenship from another EU country was 12.5%, whereas for
foreign citizens with a citizenship from outside the EU the rate was almost twice as high (21.3%). The highest
unemployment rates for non-EU foreign citizens were observed in Spain (38.6%), Greece (35.2%) and Sweden
(30.5%). Rates of around 10% or lower were recorded in the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Austria.

Table 7: Employed_persons: number, employment and unemployment rates, by citizenship, 2012 - Source:
Eurostat (lfsa_egan) (lfsa_ergan) (lfsa_urgan)

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

8

eurostatOne million of employed persons recently moved within or into the EU
Around one million employed persons took up residence in an EU Member State other than their country of
citizenship or from outside the EU within the last two years. Within this group around 630’000 persons were
EU nationals from another Member State and some 415’000 were non-EU nationals. Of these, 38.1% took up
residence in the United Kingdom, 21.7% in Germany, 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 non-national employed persons who recently
moved to an EU country other than their country of citizenship increased by 6.5%. However the trends were
very diﬀerent across Member States (see Table 8).

Figure 2: Employed persons aged 15+ taking up residence within the EU other than their country of citizenship
or from outside the EU within the last two years, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (LFS data)

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

Most of these persons did not move alone within or into the EU. In 2012, around 1.7 million family mem-
bers3took up residence with them.

3Family members include spouses and children in the same household with less than two years residence in an EU Member State

other than their country of citizenship or with a non-EU citizenship.

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

9

eurostatTable 8: Employed persons aged 15+ taking up residence within the EU other than their country of citizenship
or from outside the EU within the last two years, by nationality, 2010 and 2012 - Source: Eurostat (LFS data)

Synoptic overview of different categories in the labour market
The synoptic overview (see Figure 3) summarises key results on the labour status of persons aged 15 years and
older in the EU-27. The information comprises the following categories: employed, unemployed and inactive
persons.

The results include information on self-employed persons, employees, persons in part-time and full-time jobs
and persons in permanent and temporary jobs. Furthermore, the results also contain information on short- and
long-term unemployment and the number of persons seeking for a full-time or part-time job.

The results cover absolute numbers and the speciﬁc proportion of females, as well as of young and elderly
persons.

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

10

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

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

11

eurostat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).

European aggregates: EU refers to the sum of EU-27 Member States and EA to the sum of the 17 Euro
Area 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 unem-
ployment among persons aged 15 to 24.

Nationality: Nationality is interpreted as citizenship. Citizenship is deﬁned according to the national legis-
lation of each country.

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

EU Labour Force Survey (Statistics Explained)

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).

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

12

eurostatNotes
this article is available on Statistics explained at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/
index.php/Labour_market_and_labour_force_statistics

Manuscript completed on: 23.05.2013 Data from 24.04.2013

Statistics in Focus 14/2013

13

eurostat