Definition: Long-term unemployment rate

Category: Regional statistics

The long-term unemployment rate is the share of persons who have been unemployed for 12 months or more in the total number of active persons in the labour market. Active persons are those who are either employed or unemployed.

Unemployed persons are all persons aged between 15 and 74 years who were not employed during the reference week, had actively sought work during the past four weeks and were ready to begin working immediately or within two weeks.

The duration of unemployment is defined as the duration of a search for a job or as the length of the period since the last job was held (if this period is shorter than the duration of search for a job). http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/coded_files/sustainable_europe_2005.pdf#page=46