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In the fourth quarter of 2024, the employment rate of people aged 20-64 in the EU stood at 75.9%, stable compared with the third quarter of 2024. 

Labour market slack - all persons who have an unmet need for employment, including unemployed people - amounted to 10.8% of the extended labour force aged 20-64 in the fourth quarter of 2024 (a decrease of 0.1 percentage points (pp) compared with the third quarter of 2024).

This information comes from data on the labour market in the fourth quarter of 2024 published today by Eurostat. This article presents only a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on EU labour market.

Labour market slack and employment rate in the EU, Q1 2011 to Q4 2024, age group 20-64, seasonally adjusted data. Chart. See link to the full dataset below.

Source datasets: lfsi_emp_q and lfsi_sla_q

Between the third and the fourth quarter of 2024, Greece and Luxembourg (each +0.8 pp) as well as Lithuania, Malta and Slovenia (each +0.5 pp) registered the highest increases in the employment rate among the 15 EU countries where employment rose. The employment rate remained stable in Estonia and Hungary and decreased in 10 EU countries, with the biggest decreases recorded in Ireland (-0.6 pp), Finland, Italy and Latvia (each -0.4 pp).

Change in the employment rate, Q4 2024 compared with Q3 2024, age group 20-64, in percentage points, seasonally adjusted data. Chart. See link to the full dataset below.

Source dataset: lfsi_emp_q

For more information

Methodological notes

  • The extended labour force is the total number of people employed, unemployed, and those seeking work but not immediately available, plus those available to work but not seeking. In this article, data cover population aged 20 to 64. 
  • This article uses quarterly and seasonally adjusted data from the EU labour force survey (EU-LFS) data.

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