Job vacancies between 2018 and 2020

The job vacancy rate (not seasonally adjusted) in the euro area (EA-19) was 1.6 % in the second quarter of 2020, down from 1.9 % in the previous quarter and from 2.3 % in the second quarter of 2019. In the EU-27, the job vacancy rate was 1.6 % in the second quarter of 2020, down from 1.9 % in the previous quarter and from 2.3 % in the second quarter of 2019 as shown in Table 1 and Figure 4.



Source: Eurostat Table 1: Quarterly job vacancy rates not seasonally adjusted, Q2-2019 - Q2-2020Eurostat (jvs_q_nace2)

Among the EU Member States (see Data sources for information concerning coverage), the highest job vacancy rates in the second quarter of 2020 were recorded in Czechia (5.4 %), Belgium (3.1 %), and Austria (2.6 %) as shown in Figure 1. By contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Greece (0.3 %) as well as in Ireland, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Romania (all 0.7 %).



(%)

Source: Eurostat Figure 1: Job vacancy rates not seasonally adjusted, second quarter 2020(%)Eurostat (jvs_q_nace2)

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the job vacancy rate fell in 25 Member States, remained stable in Bulgaria and increased in France (by 0.1 pp). The largest decreases were registered in Malta (-1.6 pp), Germany (-1.2 pp), Latvia and the Netherlands (both -1.0 pp).

Figure 2 presents information for annual job vacancy rates in 2018 and 2019 and displays a pattern of rising job vacancy rates across several EU Member States (Czechia, Germany, the Netherlands, Latvia, Austria, Denmark, Cyprus, France and Portugal), while it remains stable or with a very small decrease in others. Some of the largest increases in rates were recorded among Member States that already had relatively high job vacancy rates, suggesting that the gap in rates between Member States was becoming wider. Hungary, Malta (where there is a break in series), Sweden, Slovenia, Croatia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Poland reported a very small reduction in annual rates between 2018 and 2019, while there was no change in Belgium, Finland, Estonia, Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland, Bulgaria, Spain and Greece.



(%)

Source: Eurostat Figure 2: Annual job vacancy rates, 2018 and 2019(%)Eurostat (jvs_a_rate_r2)

Job vacancies between 2009 and 2020

The impact of the global financial and economic crisis on the job vacancy rate is apparent in the information presented in Figures 3 and 4. At the height of the crisis in 2009, the annual EU job vacancy rate fell by 0.3 percentage points (compared with a year before) and it remained unchanged in 2010. Thereafter, the EU-27 job vacancy rate increased by 0.3 points in 2011, decreased by 0.1 in both 2012 and 2013, before there were consistent signs of strengthening in the labour market, as there were modest annual increases in the job vacancy rate for the period 2014-2019 (up 0.1, 0.2 and even 0.3 points in 2017).

The pattern of development for the euro area was quite similar to that recorded for the EU. The job vacancy rate for the euro area fell less strongly than was observed in the EU between 2008 and 2009 (to reach a low of 1.1 %), before increasing in both 2010 and 2011, falling in 2012, remaining stable in 2013 and 2014, before posting similar annual changes to those recorded for the EU-27 during the period 2015-2019 (see Figure 3).



(percentage points)

Source: Eurostat Figure 3: Annual change in job vacancy rates, 2009-2019(percentage points)Eurostat (jvs_a_rate_r2)

Figure 4 presents the development of the non-seasonally adjusted quarterly job vacancy rates in the EU and the euro area between 2010 and 2020, whereas Figure 5 shows the seasonally adjusted quarterly job vacancy rates between 2010 and 2020.



(%)

Source: Eurostat Figure 4: Quarterly job vacancy rates, not seasonally adjusted, 2010-2020 (Q2-2020)(%)Eurostat (jvs_q_nace2)



