In the period 2005-2013, the total activity rate in the labour market increased steadily, mostly on account of higher female participation rates.

Labour Force

An increasing trend has been observed in the activity rates over the past nine years. This is mainly due to an increase in activity rates among women, from 36.4 per cent in 2005 to 50.2 per cent in 2013. These rates with regard to men remained relatively stable. The increase in activity rates among women was also reflected in a reduction of the activity gender gap .

Education Indicators

The Early School Leavers rate went down from 33.0 per cent in 2005 to 20.5 per cent in 2013. Overall throughout these years youth educational attainment was on the rise.

In addition, the share of 30 to 34-year-old persons who achieved a tertiary educational level grew from 17.6 per cent in 2005 to 26.0 per cent in 2013.

Employment Characteristics

Over 2005-2013 there was a steady increase, notably among women. The employment rate (15-64 years) for men remained practically unchanged in this period with an average of 73.3 per cent.

The share of self employment remained relatively stable between 2005 and 2013, with an average of 13.9 per cent. By contrast, the share of part-time employment (part-time work as main job) increased from 9.4 per cent in 2005 to 15.1 per cent in 2013.

The proportion of employees who work on a fixed-term contract basis went up from 4.4 per cent at the start of the time series to 7.5 per cent at its end.

Unemployment Characteristics

For the nine years featured in this release, an average 6.6 persons out of every 100 in the labour force were unemployed (unemployment rate). The highest unemployment rates were recorded among the 15-24 age group. The long-term unemployment rate stood at an average of 3.0 per cent over the whole period.