Low work intensity

Persons with low work intensity are persons who belong to a household whose working-age members worked under 20 per cent of their possible total labour input during the year. In the calculation, the months worked by working-age persons are proportioned to the theoretical maximum number of months in gainful employment of working-age members of the household. Persons of working age include persons aged 18 to 64, excluding students aged 18 to 24, persons who have reported themselves as primarily pensioners, persons who receive pension income (excl. survivors' pensions and disability pensions, private pensions as property income) and persons aged 60 or over who are not at work at all and whose household's main source of income is pensions (excl. survivors' pensions, and disability pensions, private pensions as property income). The indicator is not formed at all for households that consist only of underage children, students aged under 25 or persons aged 65 or over. In the calculation, part-time work is changed to correspond to full-time work based on hours worked per week.

The definition of low work intensity was revised at Eurostat in 2021. Statistics Finland's statistics on living conditions release data on low work intensity with the new definition starting from the releases for the statistical reference year 2020. Data according to the new definition are available in database tables starting from 2015. Time series data according to the old definition from 2005 to 2019 are available in the table archive. The definition change has an impact on the indicator describing at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

According to the old definition, persons with low work intensity are persons who belong to a household whose working-age members worked under 20 per cent of their possible total labour input during the year. In the calculation, the months worked by working-age persons were proportioned to the theoretical maximum number of months in gainful employment of working-age members of the household. According to the old definition, persons aged 18 to 59 excluding students aged 18 to 24 were included in working-age persons. The indicator was not formed at all for households that consisted only of underage children, students aged under 25 or persons aged 60 or over. In the calculation of the old definition, part-time work was changed to correspond to full-time work based on hours worked per week.