Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Unit F3: Labour market and lifelong learning

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The section 'LFS series - detailed annual survey results' reports annual results from the EU-LFS. While LFS is a quarterly survey, it is also possible to produce annual results. There are several ways of doing it, see section '18.5 Data compilation' below for details.

This data collection covers all main labour market characteristics, i.e. the total population, activity and activity rates, employment, employment rates, self-employed, employees, temporary employment, full-time and part-time employment, population in employment having a second job, population in employment working during unsocial hours, working time, total unemployment, inactivity and quality of employment.

General information on the EU-LFS can be found in the ESMS page for 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)', see link in related metadata. Detailed information on the main features, the legal basis, the methodology and the data as well as on the historical development of the EU-LFS is available on the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage.

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

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

The European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) provides population estimates for the main labour market characteristics, such as employment, unemployment, inactivity, hours of work, occupation, economic activity and other labour related variables, as well as important socio-demographic characteristics, such as sex, age, education, household characteristics and regions of residence.

The definitions of employment and unemployment, as well as other survey characteristics follow the definitions and recommendations of the International Labour Organisation. The definition of unemployment is further precised in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1897/2000.

For more details, please consult the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Methodology.

Persons.

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Data are available from 1983 onwards for the annual series.

Not applicable.

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Not applicable.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Not applicable

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Not applicable.

For more information on data and publications, please consult: EU-LFS - Data and publications.

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

EU-LFS anonymised microdata are available for research purposes. Please refer to access to microdata.

See this website: Eurostat.

For a detailed description of methods and concepts used, as well as for other documents related to the EU-LFS, please consult the  EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage.

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

See section 11.1.

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

There are two ways of calculating LFS annual results (see section 18.5 for details)

1) Annual averages are published along with quarter 4 data, i.e. approximately 14 weeks after the end of the year. A common Council regulation ((EC) No 577/98) establishes the timeliness of data transmissions from the National Statistical Institutes to Eurostat. This timeliness is 12 weeks after the end of the reference period, and it determines the release of data to users. The timeliness of quarterly data release to users is approximately 14 weeks after the end of reference quarter.

2) Other annual results which require further processing are published around 6 months after the end of the year.

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

The general Eurostat revision policy applies to this domain.

All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data. Reported errors that are deemed to be significant are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated. Corrections for other errors are carried out in connection with the regular scheduled data dissemination.

Data are only published once they are deemed to be sufficiently complete for all data providers contributing to the aggregate.

Whenever new data are provided and validated, the already disseminated data are updated with next regular production cycle. New data are only used to update disseminated data in the case of reported errors, or in exceptional situations, such as after new population estimates have been defined based on a population census.

Annual data are updated with the same periodicity as quarterly data.

For information on EU-LFS data revisions, please consult EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) - Data and publication.

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

Please refer to the ESMS page on 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)' (see link below in section 'related metadata').

For each country and period, there are two ways of calculating LFS annual data:

1) Variables collected every quarter lead to quarterly results which can be averaged through the year, hence producing so-called 'annual average results'.

2) Variables collected only yearly lead directly to so-called 'annual results'. 

Due to different weighting scheme used for annual and quarterly results, annual averages and annual results might slightly differ. Annual average results are preferable because they have smaller (or exceptionally the same) sampling errors. Therefore, Eurostat publishes annual average results whenever possible, as follows: annual tables consisting exclusively of quarterly variables are always published as annual averages; annual tables consisting of a combination of annual and quarterly variables are always published as annual results. 

EU and Euro area aggregates are calculated aggregating totals from Member States. For the data expressed in absolute values for each quarter (i.e. number of persons) no weighting is used. Rates/Ratios are subsequently calculated from the data expressed in absolute values (i.e. number of persons).

No adjustments are made to the EU-LFS data. Please note that Eurostat also publishes LFS adjusted series under the collection 'LFS main indicators'.