Brussels, 24 March 2025
The EU Council has adopted a new law to improve collection of labour market statistics on businesses at EU level. In particular, the new rules will ensure that these statistics are more up-to-date and comparable across countries. They also provide for better coverage of the economy, and ensure that data is collected on the gender pay gap.
EU lawmakers need access to timely, reliable, and comparable labour market statistics on businesses (LMB statistics) in order to effectively design, implement, evaluate and coordinate a wide range of EU policies, for example in areas such as coordination of economic and employment policies, social policy, and equal pay for men and women. LMB statistics are used to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals, the European employment strategy, the European Pillar of Social Rights, and the European Semester.
The new rules adopted today update the existing legislation to improve comparability of LMB statistics and increase coverage of the economy. The regulation also ensures that data will be collected on the annual unadjusted gender pay gap, in line with the new pay transparency rules.
Next steps
The text adopted today now needs to be adopted by the European Parliament. It will then be signed by representatives of the Parliament and the Council, and will enter into law upon publication in the EU’s Official Journal.
Background
The term “labour market statistics on businesses” (LMB) refers to official statistics on the functioning of businesses in relation to labour markets, particularly as regards labour costs, earnings (including the gender pay gap), and statistics on job vacancies.
The Commission’s proposal for a regulation on EU labour market statistics on businesses was adopted on 28 July 2023. It covered statistics on earnings, labour costs, the gender pay gap and job vacancies in the EU, which the European Statistical System (Eurostat) publishes regularly. An agreement was reached between the Parliament and the Council on 12 December 2024.
- European Union labour market statistics on businesses (text of the regulation)
- Labour market statistics on businesses: Council and Parliament reach agreement (press release)