EU's employment rate exceeds 75% in 2023
In 2023, more than 75% (195.7 million) of the EU's 20 to 64-year-olds were employed, the highest share recorded since the start of the time series in 2009. This marks 3 consecutive years of growth after a drop to 72% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This information comes from the data on the labor market published recently by Eurostat. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.
Source dataset: lfsi_emp_a
Among the EU countries, the highest employment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (84%), Sweden (83%), and Estonia (82%). The lowest rates were recorded in Italy (66%), Greece (67%) and Romania (69%).
Women are more over-qualified than men
In 2023, the EU over-qualification rate was 22%, with 21% for men and 23% for women. Over-qualification is when people with tertiary education are employed in occupations that do not require such a high level of education.
Among the EU countries, the over-qualification rate was highest in Spain (36%), followed by Greece (31%) and Cyprus (30%).
Meanwhile, Luxembourg (5%), Denmark, and Czechia (each 13%) recorded the lowest rates.
Source dataset: lfsa_eoqgan
In 18 of the 27 EU countries, women had higher over-qualification rates than men, with the largest differences recorded in Malta and Slovakia (both +8 percentage points (pp)) and Italy (+7 pp).
However, in 9 EU countries, men had higher over-qualification rates, with the biggest differences recorded in Lithuania (+5 pp), Latvia (+4 pp) and Bulgaria (+3 pp).
In 2023, 68% of girls aged 16-19 in the EU possessed basic or above-basic digital skills, noticeably exceeding the share in the general population (56%).
The proportion of boys in the same age bracket with at least basic digital skills was slightly lower (65%). Across age groups, only women or men aged 20-24 and 25-34 demonstrated higher shares (up to 75%).
The highest shares of girls with basic or higher digital skills were recorded in Finland and Croatia (96% each) and Czechia (95%). Conversely, the lowest shares were reported in Romania (44%), Germany (46%) and Bulgaria (54%).
Source dataset: isoc_sk_dskl_i21
Girls outperformed the general population in all countries except Germany, where the share of girls with digital skills was 6 percentage points (pp) lower than the general population (46% compared with 52%). In contrast, in Croatia, the share of girls with at least basic digital skills was 37 pp higher than the general population, with similar discrepancies recorded in Lithuania (33 pp) and Malta (30 pp).
This article marks the International Day of Girls in ICT, celebrated on 25 April to highlight the need to advance career prospects for girls and women in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector.
In 2021, the EU recorded more than 2.17 million work accidents in agriculture, industry, construction, and services to the business economy that resulted in workers being absent from work for 4 days or more. This marks an 11% increase compared with 2020 during which 1.96 million accidents were recorded, and a 9% decrease compared with 2019 (2.4 million accidents). This development also reflects the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, marked by inactivity or reduced activity in certain sectors.
Many of these accidents resulted in wounds and superficial injuries (31.4%), followed by dislocations, sprains, and strains (24.6%), as well as concussions and internal injuries (19.9%) and bone fractures (11.8%).
Source dataset: hsw_mi07
The most common areas of injury for the workers in agriculture, industry, construction, and services to the business economy were the upper extremities (41.8%) and lower extremities (29.2%). Additionally, a significant portion of injuries affected the back, including the spine and vertebrae (10.0%), and the head (6.6%).
Source dataset: hsw_mi06
This article marks the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, commemorated on 28 April to promote the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally.