Underemployment in the UK and Europe

Almost 10 million part-time workers in the EU would have preferred to work more: Eurostat Labour Force Survey 2014

Over 1.8 million UK part-time workers were underemployed in 2014. Underemployed part-time workers are persons aged 15-74 working part-time who wish to work additional hours and are available to do so. Part-time work is recorded as self-reported by individuals
64% of those underemployed UK workers were women
Among the 44.1 million persons in the European Union (EU) working part-time in 2014, 9.8 million were underemployed

Growth in self-employment in the UK has been the fastest of all Western European countries over the last year, with the proportion of workers who are self-employed rising by almost a whole percentage point.
The UK had internationally low levels of self-employment for many years but has caught up with the EU average
Self-employment has proven to be a key driver of overall job creation, with the working-age employment rate reaching historically high levels.

Posted by Brian Dear on July 3, 2014

In May 2014 compared with April 2014, the seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade remained stable in the euro area (EA18) and fell by 0.1% in the EU28.
In April retail trade decreased by 0.2% in the euro area and rose by 0.2% in the EU28.
In May 2014 compared with May 2013 the retail sales index increased by 0.7% in the euro area and by 1.2% in the EU28.

Posted by Brian Dear on July 3, 2014

The euro area (EA18) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 11.6% in May 2014, stable compared with April 2014, but down from 12.0% in May 2013.
The EU28 unemployment rate was 10.3% in May 2014, down from 10.4% in April 2014, and from 10.9% in May 2013.
25.184 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 18.552 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in May 2014.
Compared with April 2014, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 63 000 in the EU28 and by 28 000 in the euro area.
Compared with May 2013, unemployment fell by 1.361 million in the EU28 and by 636 000 in the euro area.

Posted by Brian Dear on May 15, 2014

Seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.2% in the euro area (EA18) and by 0.3% in the EU28 during the first quarter of 2014, compared with the previous quarter.
In the fourth quarter of 2013, GDP grew by 0.2% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU28.
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.9% in the euro area and by 1.4% in the EU28 in the first quarter of 2014, after +0.5% and +1.0% respectively in the previous quarter.

Euro area annual inflation was 0.5% in March 2014, down from 0.7% in February.
- A year earlier the rate was 1.7%.
- Monthly inflation was 0.9% in March 2014.
European Union annual inflation was 0.6% in March 2014, down from 0.8% in February.
- A year earlier the rate was 1.9%.
- Monthly inflation was 0.7% in March 2014.

In 2013 in the EU28 these were:

216.4 million persons in employment
26.2 million unemployed
137.2 million economically inactive
43.7 million of those in employment were part-time workers, of which 9.9 million (23% of part-time workers) are underemployed, meaning they wished to work more hours and were available to do so