The share of persons outside the labour market (meaning persons being neither employed or unemployed) of the working age population (aged 15-64) in the EU was 31.4% in 2002 and reached a new low of 26.3% in 2018. The decrease in persons outside the labour market is mainly explained by the rising participation of working women.

The share of women outside the labour market fell by 7.7 percentage points (p.p.), during 2002-2018 from 39.5 % to 31.8 %, while the share of men outside the labour market decreased by only 2.4 p.p. (from 23.2 % in 2002 to 20.8 % in 2018), Eurostat reported.

Fewer elderly outside the labour market

The population outside the labour market in the age group 55-64 has experienced the strongest decrease since 2002. The share of men outside the labour market aged 55-64 fell by 17.7 p.p. (from 48.6 % in 2002 to 30.9 % in 2018) and by 24.5 p.p. for women (from 69.3 % in 2002 to 44.8 % in 2018).

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