The share of people outside the labour force as a percentage of the total working age population (age group15-64) had been on a downward trend, falling from 32.3% in 2002 to 26.6% in 2019 in the EU, according to data released today by Eurostat, the statistical service of the EU. In 2020, however, this share increased by 0.5 percentage points (pp) to 27.1%, Eurostat notes. In Cyprus this rate rose from 24.0% to 24.2%.
People outside the labour force, meaning persons being neither employed nor unemployed, are not available or searching for work for a variety of reasons, for example, because they are enrolled in education, caring for a family member, retired or because of illness or disability.
While the share of women and men outside the labour force shows a general downward trend during the 2002-2019 period, there was an upward turn in 2020 compared to 2019 f
Source: Cyprus News Agency