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Euro area job vacancy rate at 2.6%

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In the second quarter of 2024, the job vacancy rate was 2.6% in the euro area, down from 2.9% in the first quarter of 2024 and down from 3.1% in the second quarter of 2023, according to figures published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. The job vacancy rate in the EU was 2.4% in the second quarter of 2024, down from 2.6% in the first quarter of 2024 and down from 2.9% in the second quarter of 2023.

In the euro area, the job vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2024 was

  • 2.3% in industry and construction, and

  • 2.9% in services.

In the EU, the rate was

  • 2.2% in industry and construction, and

  • 2.7% in services.

Job vacancy rate by Member States

Among the Member States for which comparable data are available (see country notes), the highest job vacancy rates in the second quarter of 2024 were recorded in Belgium, the Netherlands (4.4% in both of them) and Austria (4.0%). By contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Romania (0.7%), Bulgaria (0.8%), Poland and Spain (0.9% in both of them).

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the job vacancy rate increased in six Member States, remained stable in three Member States and decreased in eighteen Member States. The largest increase was observed in Greece (+0.9 pp). The largest decreases were recorded in Germany (-1.0 pp), Austria (-0.9 pp), and Sweden (-0.8 pp).

Breakdown by economic activity

The figure below presents the job vacancy rates of the EU and the euro area by economic activity, in the second quarter of 2024. Data are displayed for the business economy, for which data are available from all EU countries. The highest job vacancy rates, for both the EU and the euro area, were recorded in:

  • Section N: "Administrative and support service activities" that includes temporary employment agencies (3.9% in the euro area, 3.8% in the EU),

  • Section F: "Construction" (3.5% in the euro area, 3.2% in the EU),

  • Section I: "Accommodation and food service activities" (3.3% in the euro area, 3.2% in the EU),

  • Section J: "Information and communication" (3.2% in the euro area, 3.0% in the EU), and

  • Section M: "Professional, scientific and technical activities" (3.0% in the euro area, 2.8% in the EU).

Tables

Job vacancy rates – whole economy (%)

– not seasonally adjusted –

2023Q2

2023Q3

2023Q4

2024Q1

2024Q2

Euro area

3.1

3.0

2.9

2.9

2.6

EU

2.9

2.7

2.6

2.6

2.4

Belgium

4.6

4.7

4.4

4.4

4.4

Bulgaria

0.8

0.8

0.7

0.8

0.8

Czechia

3.8

3.6

3.4

3.3

3.3

Germany

4.1

4.1

3.9

3.5

3.1

Estonia

1.8

2.0

1.6

1.6

1.7

Ireland

1.3

1.2

1.1

1.1

1.1

Greece

1.6

1.6

1.8

3.1

2.5

Spain

0.9

0.9

0.8

0.9

0.9

Croatia

1.6

1.6

1.3

2.0

1.7

Cyprus

2.9

2.9

2.8

3.0

3.0

Latvia

2.8

2.8

2.5

2.8

2.6

Lithuania

2.0

2.0

1.9

2.0

2.1

Luxembourg

1.9

1.8

1.5

1.5

1.6

Hungary

2.5

2.4

2.3

2.2

2.2

Malta

2.7

3.0

2.8

3.2

3.0

Netherlands

4.7

4.5

4.2

4.4

4.4

Austria

4.9

4.6

4.1

4.5

4.0

Poland

0.9

0.9

0.8

0.9

0.9

Portugal

1.5

1.4

1.3

1.2

1.4

Romania

0.8

0.8

0.7

0.7

0.7

Slovenia

2.9

2.7

2.2

2.5

2.5

Slovakia

1.0

1.1

1.1

1.3

1.2

Finland

2.2

1.8

1.8

2.5

1.8

Sweden

3.2

2.2

2.1

2.9

2.4

Iceland

2.5

2.8

2.0

2.7

3.0

Norway

4.1

3.5

3.1

3.9

3.4

Switzerland

2.2

2.0

2.0

2.0

1.9

Job vacancy rates – restricted coverage* (%)

– not seasonally adjusted –

2023Q2

2023Q3

2023Q4

2024Q1

2024Q2

Denmark

2.9

2.6

2.3

2.5

2.7

France

3.3

2.8

3.0

2.8

2.8

Italy

2.4

2.1

1.9

2.5

2.1

Job vacancy rates by main economic activity branches (%)

 – not seasonally adjusted –

Industry and construction
(NACE Rev. 2 section B to F)

Services
(NACE Rev. 2 section G to N)

2023Q2

2023Q3

2023Q4

2024Q1

2024Q2

2023Q2

2023Q3

2023Q4

2024Q1

2024Q2

Euro area

2.8

2.7

2.7

2.5

2.3

3.5

3.2

3.1

3.2

2.9

EU

2.6

2.4

2.4

2.3

2.2

3.2

3.0

2.9

3.0

2.7

Belgium

4.4

4.4

3.8

4.0

4.2

6.0

6.0

5.8

5.5

5.6

Bulgaria

0.6

0.7

0.6

0.6

0.7

0.7

0.7

0.6

0.8

0.7

Czechia

4.7

4.4

4.1

4.0

3.9

4.8

4.6

4.6

4.4

4.4

Denmark

2.6

2.4

2.1

2.4

2.4

3.0

2.7

2.4

2.6

2.8

Germany

3.5

3.4

3.5

2.9

2.6

4.7

4.8

4.6

4.4

3.6

Estonia

1.0

0.8

0.7

0.8

1.0

1.9

2.3

1.6

1.5

1.5

Ireland

0.7

0.7

0.7

0.9

1.2

1.1

1.1

1.0

1.1

1.1

Greece

1.7

2.0

2.9

3.4

2.2

2.3

1.9

1.9

4.3

3.3

Spain

0.6

0.5

0.5

0.6

0.5

0.8

0.8

0.7

0.7

0.7

France

3.1

2.8

2.9

2.6

2.4

3.3

2.6

2.9

2.8

2.7

Croatia

1.6

1.5

1.1

1.6

1.4

1.6

1.1

1.0

1.8

1.5

Italy

2.4

2.2

2.1

2.4

2.0

2.5

2.1

1.8

2.7

2.2

Cyprus

1.6

2.1

2.1

2.2

2.2

3.8

3.3

3.2

3.8

3.8

Latvia

2.7

2.5

2.1

2.5

2.6

2.4

2.5

2.1

2.4

2.1

Lithuania

1.9

1.9

1.7

1.8

1.9

2.1

2.1

1.9

1.9

2.0

Luxembourg

1.1

1.1

0.9

1.1

1.1

2.7

2.6

2.1

2.0

2.0

Hungary

2.3

2.2

1.9

1.8

1.8

2.3

2.3

2.1

2.0

2.0

Malta

2.6

3.4

3.0

2.7

2.9

3.1

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.8

Netherlands

5.2

5.0

4.7

4.9

5.3

5.1

4.7

4.4

4.6

4.6

Austria

4.5

4.3

3.9

4.5

3.9

6.3

6.0

5.4

5.6

5.0

Poland

0.9

1.0

0.8

1.1

1.1

1.0

1.0

0.8

0.9

0.9

Portugal

1.3

1.3

1.2

1.1

1.1

2.4

2.2

2.0

1.9

2.1

Romania

0.8

0.8

0.6

0.7

0.7

0.8

0.8

0.7

0.7

0.6

Slovenia

3.1

2.9

2.7

3.0

2.7

3.6

3.3

2.7

3.0

2.9

Slovakia

0.8

0.8

0.8

1.0

0.9

0.8

0.8

0.9

1.0

1.0

Finland

1.2

1.1

1.1

1.4

1.6

2.7

2.4

2.3

2.7

2.3

Sweden

2.5

1.9

1.7

2.2

2.2

3.2

2.5

2.4

2.6

3.1

Iceland

4.4

4.6

3.4

4.1

4.6

3.0

3.0

2.4

3.4

3.6

Norway

3.4

2.9

2.5

3.2

2.6

4.8

3.9

3.3

4.3

3.4

Switzerland

2.8

2.4

2.3

2.2

2.0

2.3

2.2

2.0

2.1

1.9

Job vacancy rates NACE Rev. 2 sections, %

– not seasonally adjusted –

Euro area

2023Q2

2023Q3

2023Q4

2024Q1

2024Q2

B: Mining and quarrying

1.5

1.5

1.5

1.7

1.5

C: Manufacturing

2.3

2.2

2.2

2.0

1.9

D: Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply

1.8

1.6

2.1

2.0

1.8

E: Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities

2.3

1.9

1.9

2.1

1.7

F: Construction

4.2

4.1

4.1

3.9

3.5

G: Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles

2.8

2.5

2.6

2.6

2.5

H: Transportation and storage

2.9

2.6

2.5

2.2

2.2

I: Accommodation and food service activities

4.3

3.5

3.4

4.4

3.3

J: Information and communication

3.7

3.6

3.4

3.4

3.2

K: Financial and insurance activities

2.1

2.2

2.2

2.1

2.0

L: Real estate activities

2.5

2.2

2.7

2.4

2.3

M: Professional, scientific and technical activities

4.1

4.3

3.5

3.4

3.0

N: Administrative and support service activities

4.6

4.3

4.5

4.7

3.9

Job vacancy rates NACE Rev. 2 sections, %

– not seasonally adjusted –

EU

2023Q2

2023Q3

2023Q4

2024Q1

2024Q2

B: Mining and quarrying

1.1

1.0

1.0

1.1

0.9

C: Manufacturing

2.2

2.1

2.0

1.9

1.8

D: Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply

1.7

1.6

1.9

1.9

1.6

E: Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities

2.0

1.7

1.7

1.8

1.6

F: Construction

3.8

3.6

3.6

3.5

3.2

G: Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles

2.4

2.3

2.3

2.3

2.2

H: Transportation and storage

2.7

2.5

2.3

2.1

2.2

I: Accommodation and food service activities

4.1

3.4

3.2

4.1

3.2

J: Information and communication

3.4

3.3

3.1

3.1

3.0

K: Financial and insurance activities

2.0

2.0

2.0

1.9

1.8

L: Real estate activities

2.4

2.1

2.5

2.3

2.3

M: Professional, scientific and technical activities

3.8

3.9

3.3

3.2

2.8

N: Administrative and support service activities

4.4

4.1

4.3