In the first quarter of 2023, among people aged 15-64 who were not in education, slightly more than 8 in 10 were in the labour force (81.8%). From this total, 76.7% were employed and 5.1% were unemployed. On the other side, 18.2% were outside the labour force in the EU.
According to the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), of the 44 million people not in education and outside the labour force in Q1 2023, 75.5% were not searching for a job, had not found a job and did not want to work; 20.3% were not searching but nevertheless wanted to work; 2.8% were actively searching but not immediately available, and; 1.2% were not searching but had found a job to start later.
Among people not in education and outside the labour force, 21.1% did not want to work because they were retired, another 20.7% because of illness or disability, and 18.2% because of care responsibilities or other family reasons.