The employment rate refers to the proportion of people in the population aged 15–74 years who are in employment. An employed person is a person who, during a certain week (reference week) performed some work for at least one hour as an employee, a self-employed person, or as a helper in a company belonging to a family member. People who did not perform any work as described above, but who were in employment or work that they were temporarily absent from during the entire reference week (for reasons such as holiday or illness) are also counted as employed persons.