The EU28 population aged 15 to 74 can be classified into three groups: in 2013, these were 216.4 million persons in employment, 26.2 million unemployed and 137.2 million economically inactive. Among those in employment, 43.7 million 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.

Among the economically inactive population (those persons neither employed nor unemployed), there were 9.3 million persons aged 15 to 74 available to work, but not seeking and 2.2 million seeking work, but not available in the EU28 in 2013. While not part of the economically active population, both groups have a certain attachment to the labour market and could be considered as a potential additional labour force of 11.5 million persons, equivalent to 4.7% of the labour force.

This information comes from an article published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, based on the 2013 results of the European Labour Force Survey.

Largest shares of underemployed part-time workers in Greece, Cyprus and Spain

In 2013, the proportion of underemployed part-time workers among total part-time workers varied significantly among Member States, with the largest shares observed in Greece (72.0%), Cyprus (59.0%), Spain (57.4%), Portugal (45.9%), Latvia (44.4%) and Bulgaria (41.9%), and the smallest in the Netherlands (4.2%), Luxembourg (10.3%), the Czech Republic (11.4%), Denmark (11.7%) and Estonia (12.4%).

The potential labour force also varied significantly between Member States, with the largest proportions registered in Italy (equivalent to 12.6% of the labour force) and Croatia (12.1%), and the smallest in the Czech Republic (1.6%) and Lithuania (1.7%).