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Published by curelth on 20 April 2023

What is the employment status of participants on parental leave?

Answer

According to the latest 2021 methodology for the EU Labour Force Survey, individuals on parental leave receiving any job-related income or benefit should always be recorded as employed. A job-related income or benefit is one that individuals would not be entitled to if they did not have a job at the moment of starting the period of absence.  Participants on parental leave who are not receiving any job-related income or benefit should be recorded as employed if the total expected duration of the parental leave is of 3 months or less.   If the total expected duration of the parental leave without job-related income or benefit is of more than 3 months, they should be considered as inactive.  Note that the expected total duration of the absence should be considered, and not the effective duration at the time of the data collection. In addition, the duration of the maternity or paternity leave should not be taken into account, even if the parental leave follows immediately the maternity/paternity leave.  EU LFS Methodology (2021 onwards) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=EU_Labour_Force_Survey_-_new_methodology_from_2021_onwards#Labour_force_status