Part-time as main source of income increases to 15% of total employees

An increasing trend has been observed in the activity rates over the past nine years, 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.

Early school-leavers, defined as 18 to 24-year-old persons who have achieved a lower secondary level or less and who are not in education or training, as a proportion of the total population in this age bracket. The ESL 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.

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 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.

For the nine years, 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.