1) Proportion (%) of unemployed persons aged 15-74 in the labour force.
2) Proportion (%) of long-term unemployed persons aged 15-74 in the labour force.
Calculation
1) The (annual average) number of unemployed people aged 15-74 years who where without work, were currently available for work and were either actively seeking work in the past four weeks or had already found a job to start with within the next two weeks, as a proportion of the labour force (unemployed and employed persons aged 15 to 74 ). Annual averages are calculated based on four reference weeks, each for one quarter of the year.
2) The (annual average) number of long-term unemployed people (persons who have been unemployed for one year or more) aged 15-74 years as a proportion of the labour force (unemployed and employed persons 15 to 74 years of age). Annual averages are calculated based on using four reference weeks, each for one quarter of the year.
Relevant dimensions and subgroups
Calendar year
Country
Region (according to ISARE recommendations; see data availability)
Sex
Age group (15-24)
Preferred data type and data source
Preferred data type
Survey
Preferred data source
Eurostat, The European Union Labour Force Survey (LFS)
Data availability
1) In the Eurostat database data on unemployment for all 27 MS are mostly available from 2000 onwards. Data are available by sex, age groups and regions (NUTS levels 1, 2, 3). The ISARE project on regional data has collected regional data on unemployment (indicator: percentage of unemployed persons 14 to 64 years old).
2) Eurostat also has data on long-term unemployment. Data on long-term unemployment for all 27 MS are mostly available from 2000 onwards. Data are available by sex and region (NUTS level 1, 2). Data on age is not yet published. The ISARE project on regional data has not collected data on long-term unemployment.
Data periodicity
The data of the European Union Labour force survey is updated quarterly since 2000 (data collection). Annual data encompass the averages of the quarterly data.
Rationale
Important indicator from the view of socio-economic differences in health. Besides other special risks, unemployment is tied up with poverty. Especially long-term unemployment itself has detrimental health effects.
Remarks
‘Unemployment rate by gender’ is one of the EU Structural Indicators as well as one of the EU Sustainable Development Indicators. ‘Unemployment by age group’ and ‘total long-term unemployment rate’ are also Sustainable Development Indicators. Both unemployment and long-term unemployment are overarching indicators of the Open Method of Coordination on Social Inclusion and Social Protection (OMC).‘Long-term unemployment rate’ is also one of the indicators on the social inclusion strand of the OMC.
Eurostat also provides data on unemployment rate by education (ISCED).
Eurostat currently does not publish data on long-term unemployment by age. The LSF data however do allow for the computation of this indicator operationalisation.
The survey is representative for the population of the Member States aged 15-74 living in private households. Exceptions are Norway, Iceland, the United Kingdom and Spain, where the data is representative for the population aged 16-74.
People living in collective or institutional households are excluded from the survey.
Definition
