Data extracted: 4 April 2025
Planned article update: April 2026
Highlights
Source: Eurostat (nama_10_a10_e)
Employment data in National Accounts covers employees and self-employed persons working in resident production units, i.e. the domestic employment concept. The methodology is consistent with other national accounts variables, but differs from the employment estimates published by the Labour Force Survey (more information here). Employment in persons counts all persons engaged in productive activities. Employment in hours worked refers to all hours actually worked, whether paid or not.
This article presents key messages and data extractions based on Eurostat's annual employment figures. Information on quarterly employment developments can be found in the article on Quarterly national accounts - GDP and employment.
General overview
In 2024, total employment in persons increased by 1.0% in the euro area and by 0.8% in the EU. In comparison, the annual growth rate for 2023 was 1.4% in the euro area and 1.2% in the EU.
Total employment can be split into 'number of employees' and 'number of self-employed'. The number of employees increased by 1.0% in the euro area and 0.9% in the EU in 2024, and the number of self-employed increased by 0.6% in the euro area and remained stable in the EU (see Figure 1).
Source: Eurostat (nama_10_a10_e)
Variations among EU countries
Based on annual data, the level of employment based on persons was below its 2014 level for one EU country (Romania, -0.1%). The largest increases were visible in Malta (+63.1%), Ireland (+38.9%), and Cyprus (+37.4%). Please note these variations can also be related to population changes. Compared to the previous year, five EU countries had lower employment levels in 2024. The largest decreases were recorded in Latvia (-0.9%) and Poland (-0.7%). The largest increases were recorded in Croatia (+6.1%) and Malta (+5.2%).
For employment based on total hours worked, values in 2024 were below its 2014 level for one EU country (Latvia -1.0%). Compared to the previous year, an increase in hours worked could be observed for all EU countries, except for one country (Poland -1.8%) (see Table 1).
Source: Eurostat (nama_10_a10_e)
Contributions from self-employed
Total employment in the EU can be split into employees and self-employed, which accounted for 85.7% and 14.3% respectively of total employment in persons and 82.4% and 17.6% respectively of hours worked in the EU in 2024. However, the significance of self-employed persons varies across EU countries (see Table 2). In 2024, in terms of persons, the share was highest in Greece (26.5%), Bulgaria (24.1%) and Italy (23.1%), and lowest in Sweden (5.2%), Denmark (5.4%), and Luxembourg (5.9%).
Changes between 2014 and 2024 vary significantly. The share of self-employed persons decreased in both the EU and the euro area (-1.9 % and -1.4% respectively), as did their share in total hours worked (-2.6% and -2.3% respectively). The largest decreases in the number of self-employed persons were observed in Romania (-8.5%) and Greece (-6.2%) and the highest increase was recorded in Estonia (+2.6%). For changes in hours worked, the largest decreases were observed in Romania (-8.0%) and Greece (-7.5%) and the highest increase was recorded in Estonia (+2.4%).
Source: Eurostat (nama_10_a10_e)
Evolution by sector
Employment trends can also be broken down by sector. Figure 2 shows changes in employment in persons by economic activity between 2014-2024, and in 2024. They indicate that there has been a shift in employment across sectors of the economy. Losses of employment over the whole time period 2014-2024 were recorded in agriculture. In 2024, employment grew in all sectors except for agriculture and real estate activities. The following sectors: Information and communication, and professional, scientific and technical activities exhibited the largest growth in terms of employment over the whole time period.
Relation to GDP, productivity and unit labour costs
Employment data are also used to compile indicators on productivity[1] and unit labour costs[2], in combination with data on production (GDP) and compensation of employees. Figure 3 shows that labour productivity in persons dropped significantly during 2020 (-4.3%), since the COVID 19 pandemic government subsidies kept the number of employees rather stable, while GDP dropped. Thereafter labour productivity recovered in the years 2021 and 2022. In 2024 labour productivity increased by 0.2% in persons and by 0.4% in hours.
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Source: Eurostat (nama_10_gdp) and (nama_10_lp_ulc)
For more information on productivity, please see the Statistics Explained article Productivity trends using key national accounts indicators
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
Eurostat collects employment data in the framework of ESA 2010. See here for more details. Additional information on the dissemination of ESA 2010 data is available under publications on the dedicated section on Eurostat's website and in the database section National accounts (ESA 2010) (na10). The ESA 2010 distinguishes between two employment concepts depending on geographical coverage: resident persons in employment (i.e. the national scope of employment) and employment in resident production units irrespective of the place of residence of the employed person (i.e. domestic scope). The ESA 2010 recognises several employment measures: persons, hours worked and jobs. Eurostat publishes mainly employment data measured in persons and in hours worked.
Context
Employment and population have traditionally been considered auxiliary variables in national accounts, aimed to calculate ratios like value added, output, or labour costs per inhabitant or per employed person. Employment, however, has gained importance and nowadays it is an endogenous variable in the national accounts framework. Quarterly employment also stands now as a key short term economic indicator. There are some advantages in estimating employment in the framework of national accounts. First, national accountants integrate information from many sources (labour force surveys, population censuses, employment registers, income tax registers, business production surveys, labour cost surveys, etc). A second level of integration is reached when employment is estimated simultaneously to and consistently with other national accounts variables, like output and compensation of employees i.e. salaries and social contributions. Resulting from it, national accounts employment estimates are best suited to measure the overall level of employment in an economy and its breakdown into main economic categories. National accounts, however, do not provide information on social or gender aspects of employment. The classical and most reliable source for this information is the Labour Force Survey. The differences in methodology between national accounts employment and the Labour Force Survey can be found here.
Footnotes
- ↑ Labour productivity is defined as the ratio of Gross Domestic Product GDP (in volume) to total employment (according to the domestic concept).
- ↑ Unit labour cost (ULC) measures the average cost of labour per unit of output. It is calculated as the ratio of labour costs to labour productivity. ULC represents a link between productivity and the cost of labour in producing output.
Explore further
Other articles
Database
- Annual national accounts (nama_10)
Thematic section
Publications
- European system of accounts — ESA 2010
- European system of accounts — ESA 2010 — Transmission programme of data
- EU Regulation No 734/2023 amending the European system of regional and national accounts (ESA 2010)
- Manual on the changes between ESA 95 and ESA 2010 — 2014 edition
- Essential SNA — Building the basics — 2014 edition
- Update of the 1993 SNA and revision of ESA 95 (background article)
- The application of the employment method for the exhaustiveness of GDP estimates – Practical guidelines for enhanced comparability between countries – 2024 edition
- Improving the measurement of employment in national accounts – Recommendations and good practices – 2024
Selected datasets
- Annual national accounts (t_nama)
Methodology
- Annual national accounts (ESMS metadata file — nama10_esms)
- Population and employment - national accounts (ESMS metadata file — nama_10_pe_esms)
Other methodological information
- National accounts, see Methodology: