Definition

Employed persons are those who are aged 15 year and over (16 and over in ES, IT, UK; 15-74 years in DK, EE, HU, LV, FI and SE) and who fall under one of the following categories:

• who during the reference week performed work, even for just one hour a week, for pay, profit or family gain;
• who were not at work but had a job or business from which they were temporarily absent because of, e.g., illness, holidays, industrial dispute or education and training.

Pay includes cash payments or “payment in kind”, whether payment was received in the week the work was done or not.

Goal (rationale)

To capture employment activities of workers at a late stage of their careers.

Survey question

Did you do any paid work in the 7 days ending Sunday the [date], either as an employee or as self-employed?

1 Yes

2 No

Even though you were not doing paid work, did you have a job or business that you were away from in the week ending Sunday the [date] (and that you expect to return to)?

1 Yes

2 No

3 Waiting to take up a new job/business already obtained

Source

European Union (EU) Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS)

Year

2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016

Notes

The rationale for choosing employment rate over economic activity is that employment activity (and not being available to undertake employment) is important in measuring the experiences for active ageing. Also, in many countries, workers in the age group 55+ are so discouraged that they do not even search for job, and thus categorised as inactive.

One limitation of the indicator is that it makes no distinction between part-time and full-time workers. Thus, the indicator provides the level participation not employment intensity.

Another limitation of the indicator is that it may underestimate the activity potential of older persons in countries with (temporally) high old-age unemployment.

Comparability

Data derived for all three years (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016) use comparable definitions.

For details, see http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/c/portal/layout?p_l_id=203676&p_v_l_s_g_id=0

Definition

Definition of employed persons the same as for indicator 1.1

Goal (rationale)

To capture employment activities of older workers at a late stage of their careers, especially during the ages when a good majority of workers in the EU countries exit the labour market for retirement

Survey question

Same as for indicator 1.1

Source

EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS)

Year

2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016

Notes

Same as for indicator 1.1

Comparability

Same as for indicator 1.1.

Definition

Same as for indicator 1.1

Goal (rationale)

To capture labour market engagement of older people close to or beyond the normal retirement age

Survey question

Same as for indicator 1.1

Source

EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS)

Year

2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016

Notes

Same as for indicator 1.1

Comparability

Same as for indicator 1.1

Indicator name

Employment rate for the age group 70-74

Definition

Same as for indicator 1.1

Goal (rationale)

To capture labour market engagement of older people well beyond the normal retirement age in many of the countries in question.

Survey question

Same as for indicator 1.1

Source

EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS)

Year

Notes

Same as for indicator 1.1; also, in many EU countries people of this age might not declare that they worked at least one hour for pay (or profit) during the reference week (the ILO definition in the EU Labour Force Survey), especially since they work only occasionally.

Comparability

Same as for indicator 1.1