Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

F3: Labour market and skills

European Commission
Eurostat Directorate F
Labour Market Statistics (F3) methodology and analysis team
Bâtiment Joseph Bech D3/723
5, Rue Alphonse Weicker
L-2771 Luxembourg

The EU-LFS 8-yearly module 'Young people in the labour market' conducted in 2024 provides information on:

• match between education, skills and current or previous main job
• persons with tertiary education by medium educational attainment qualifications
• dropping out of formal education or training, including dropout level and reason

The module includes 7 variables.

1. LEVMATCH: Match between educational attainment level and current or last main job
2. FIELDMATCH: Match between field of the highest level of education successfully completed and current or last main job
3. SKILLMATCH: Match between skills and current or last main job
4. DROPEDUC: Formal education or training abandoned
5. DROPEDUCLEVE: Level of the formal education or training abandoned
6. DROPEDUCREAS: Main reason for not completing the formal education programme referred to in DROPEDUCLEVEL
7. MEDLEVQUAL: Medium educational attainment qualifications

The EU-LFS results are produced in accordance with the relevant international classification systems. The main classifications used are NACE Rev. 2 for economic activity, ISCO 08 (from 2011) for occupation, ISCED 2011 for level of education (from 2014) and ISCED-F 2013 for field of education (from 2016). Actual coding in the EU-LFS may deviate to some extent from those general standards; for more details on classifications, levels of aggregation and transition rules, please consult EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Methodology.

As a general rule, the EU-LFS covers all economic sectors.

Target population

The 2024 LFS module includes persons aged 15-34. This group will be referred to as the target population of the survey module. Most of the variables in the survey module were limited further, thus dealing with sub-groups of the target population (e.g. persons who have abandoned formal education or training).

Definitions

Formal education and training is defined according to the International Standard Classification of Education 2011 (ISCED 2011) as ‘education that is institutionalised, intentional and planned through public organizations and recognised private bodies and – in their totality – constitute the formal education system of a country. Formal education programmes are thus recognised as such by the relevant national education authorities or equivalent authorities, e.g. any other institution in cooperation with the national or sub-national education authorities. Formal education consists mostly of initial education. Vocational education, special needs education and some parts of adult education are often recognised as being part of the formal education system.’ (ISCED 2011 glossary). The ISCED definition of (formal) education includes (formal) training.

Work experience during studies refers to work experiences at a workplace in a market or non-market unit (i.e. in a company, government institution or non-profit organisation) that were part of the curriculum of the formal programme that led to the highest level of education successfully completed.

Dropping out of (or ‘abandoning’) formal education and training means that a person has started a formal education programme but has not successfully completed it. According to the ISCED 2011, ‘a common characteristic of an education programme is that, upon fulfilment of learning objectives or educational tasks, successful completion is certified.’ Accordingly, dropping out of formal education is defined as leaving formal education without certification or without obtaining the final credential associated with this formal education. The variable covers all formal education activities abandoned during the life of the person.

The level of the formal education or training activity is defined according to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011). Data on dropout levels are presented in 3 aggregates:

• low education – primary and lower secondary education (ISCED levels 1-2)
• medium education – upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (ISCED levels 3 and 4)
• high education – tertiary education (ISCED levels 5-8).

The indicator on young people neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET) corresponds to the percentage of the population of a given age group and sex that is not employed and not involved in education or training. The numerator of the indicator refers to people who meet the following two conditions:

• they are not employed (i.e. unemployed or outside the labour force, according to the EU-LFS definition)
• they have not received any education or training (i.e. either formal or non-formal) in the 4 weeks ending with the reference week.

The denominator consists of the total population of the same age group, excluding the respondents who have not answered the question ‘participation in regular (formal) education and training’.

NEET rates estimated based on the EU-LFS module differ slightly from the NEET rates available in the edat_lfse_23 table due to sub-sampling for the module.

Employed person is a person who, during the reference week, was in one of the following categories:

• people who, during the reference week, worked for at least 1 hour for pay or profit, including contributing family workers
• people with a job or business who were temporarily not at work during the reference week but had an attachment to their job.

Unemployed person is a person who, during the reference week, were in all 3 of the following categories:

• not employed during the reference week according to the definition of employed above
• currently available for work, i.e. available to start working for paid employment or self-employment before the end of the 2 weeks following the reference week
• actively seeking work, i.e. had either carried out activities in the 4-week period ending with the reference week to find paid employment or self-employment or already found a job expected to start within a period of at most 3 months from the end of the reference week.

Labour force comprises people who were either employed or unemployed during the reference week.

Online tables and the coverage of data

Match between education, skills and main job

Formal education or training abandoned

Tertiary education

Labour market outcomes

Output variables

Table lfso_24match05: Persons by match between field of education and current/last main job and work experience while studying 

• Category 'Not applicable' includes response categories  'No job requirements' and 'No particular field of educational qualification when previously in employment'

Tables lfso_24match06 - lfso_24match09: Persons by match between field of education and current/last main job

• Category 'No match' includes response categories 'No extent', 'No job requirements' and 'No particular field of educational qualification when previously in employment'

Table lfso_24eab03: Persons by level of the formal education or training abandoned and reason

• Category 'Other family or personal reasons' includes response categories 'Care responsibilities', 'Other family reasons' and 'Other personal reasons'

Persons aged 15-34, living in private households.

Persons aged 15-34, living in private households.

• 27 EU countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, and Sweden
• 1 EFTA country: Norway
• 1 candidate country: North Macedonia

The module coverage is from the first to the fourth quarter of 2024 as required in the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 (article 5): ‘The eight-yearly variables shall be transmitted for one sub-sample of independent observations that refer to all weeks of the reference year’.   

Not applicable.

In 2021, the new Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, also called the Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation (IESS FR), entered into force. It defines the regular data sets and the ad hoc subjects. This Regulation set out provisions for the design, characteristics and decision-making process of the survey. Technical aspects related to the module can also be found in the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2312, such as the time coverage, the target population, and other data transmission specifications. Moreover, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/256 establishes a multiannual rolling planning and lists the topics to be collected from 2021 to 2028 for the eight-yearly variables and ad hoc subjects.

No mandate for international data sharing.

Please refer to the ESMS page on Employment and unemployment (LFS).

Please refer to the ESMS page on Employment and unemployment (LFS).

EU-LFS data for modules are released after the end of the reference period once data processing and validation are completed.

Not applicable.

Please refer to the ESMS page on Employment and unemployment (LFS).

Module results are presented in a news article 14% of young people in the EU dropped out of education.

Statistics Explained article: Young people dropping out of education and labour market participation

Please consult free data online or contact ESTAT-LFS-USER-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu

Eurostat also produces tailor-made tables not available online at the request of users (please refer to User support) or send an email to ESTAT-LFS-user-support@ec.europa.eu.

EU-LFS anonymized microdata are available for research purposes. Please consult access to microdata.

Not applicable.

For information on the EU-LFS modules, please consult EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) – modules.

The EU-LFS also disseminates publications on the methodology of the survey. For more information, please consult: Quality reports and methodological publications

Please consult the evaluation report at EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - modules.

Please refer to the ESMS page on Employment and unemployment (LFS).

Please refer to the ESMS page on Employment and unemployment (LFS).

The Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/256 establishes a multiannual rolling planning and lists the topics to be collected from 2021 to 2028 for the eight-yearly variables and ad hoc subjects.

EU-LFS results are used mainly by the DG Employment and a number of other Directorates of the Commission for measurement and monitoring of policy agendas purposes. Key users include National Statistics Institutes (NSIs), international organisations, news agencies and researchers, which use various aspects of EU-LFS data for international or intra-EU comparisons. Finally, EU-LFS data are used by Eurostat for compiling detailed regional indicators, for estimates on current education and education levels, higher education and research, and for accurate estimates of labour input of national accounts.

Please refer to the ESMS page on Employment and unemployment (LFS).

Please refer to the ESMS page on Employment and unemployment (LFS).

Please refer to the ESMS page on Employment and unemployment (LFS).

For the sample size per country see the evaluation report at EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - modules.

For non-sampling indicators per country, see the evaluation report at EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) – modules.

The deadline for data transmissions to Eurostat was 31 March 2025.

All countries deliver data on time. Initial validation of the data sets was finished in spring 2025, with the subsequent revision round finishing in summer 2025.

Comparability of the EU-LFS across countries is considered as high and is achieved through various regulations ensuring harmonisation of concepts, definitions and methodologies.

Please refer to the ESMS page on Employment and unemployment (LFS).

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Published estimates stemming from the EU-LFS are considered fully internally coherent since arithmetic and accounting identities in the production of EU-LFS datasets are observed.

To further specify the general Eurostat revision policy, the following revision policy has been established for EU-LFS revision policy.

The policy is presented in “EU-LFS data submission and validation manual”, a document providing rules for data transmission to the data providers (the NSIs).

EU-LFS data for modules, once released, are not usually revised unless major errors are identified in the data delivered or in their processing. Exceptional revisions may happen.

The source of the data is the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS). The EU-LFS is a rotating random sample survey of persons in private households. The Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, also called the Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation (IESS FR), and its Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 for the labour force domain provide a precise description of the survey content (module and submodules of the questionnaire).

The main characteristics of the new EU-LFS methodology based on the revised Regulation are available in the article: EU labour force survey - methodology

Data collection is quarterly.

The data is acquired by interviewing the sampled individuals directly. For the sample design and rotation patterns applied in each country, please consult the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage.

Prior to the dissemination of national data, EU-LFS results are validated by the Member States and checked for plausibility by Eurostat.

Aggregate figures are calculated by adding up all the national data series. 

All of the Eurobase tables present percentages of the reference population total. The calculation of percentages is based on a total excluding the number of people classified in the non-response category. As such, all exhaustive breakdowns presented in the tables should amount to 100 % (allowing for rounding errors).

No adjustments.