Archive:Job vacancy trends

Data from September 2011, most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article gives an overview of annual job vacancy statistics in the European Union (EU), notably the job vacancy rate (JVR). Eurostat also collects quarterly job vacancy statistics.

EU policies in the area of job vacancies aim to improve the functioning of the labour market by trying to match more closely supply and demand. In order to enable job seekers to consult all vacancies publicised in each of the Member State’s employment services, the European jobs and mobility portal (EURES) was set up.

Figure 1: Job vacancy rate(%), 2003-2010 (1)
Source: Eurostat (jvs_a_nace2)

Figure 2: Job vacancy rate (%), 2010 (1)
Source: Eurostat (jvs_a_nace2) and (jvs_q_nace2)

Main statistical findings

There was an upward development in the job vacancy rate in the EU-27 from 2003 to 2007, with the rate peaking at 2.2 % in 2007. Thereafter, the job vacancy rate contracted in successive years, falling to 1.9 % in 2008 and a historic low of 1.4 % in 2009. The latest information available for 2010 suggests a slight recovery, as the job vacancy rate stood at 1.5 %.

The pattern of development for the euro area was similar to that recorded in the EU-27, although the job vacancy rate for the former climbed more rapidly in 2005 and 2006 (when it peaked at 2.3 %), before contracting for three consecutive years to a low of 1.4 % in 2009; the recovery in 2010 was slightly more than in the EU-27, as the job vacancy rate rose by 0.2 percentage points.

Among the Member States (no information for Belgium), the job vacancy rate in 2010 was highest in Malta (3.2 %) and Germany (2.6 %). The number of vacant posts accounted for less than 1 % of the total number of posts in 14 of the Member States in 2010, with job vacancy rates of less than 0.5 % in Ireland, France and Latvia (in other words, less than one in every 200 posts was vacant).

Data sources and availability

Data on job vacancies and occupied posts may be presented broken down by economic activity, occupation, size of enterprise and region. The national statistical authorities responsible for compiling job vacancy statistics send these statistics to Eurostat. Their data are used to compile the job vacancy rate for the EU-27 and the euro area.

Some of the data provided by the Member States fails to match common criteria and there may be differences in the coverage of the data between countries; as a result, there are currently no EU-27 totals for the actual numbers of job vacancies or occupied posts.

The EU-27 and euro area job vacancy rates are calculated on the basis of the information that is available; no estimates are made for missing or incomplete data. It is therefore not possible, at present, to present EU-27 or euro area job vacancy rates broken down by economic activity, occupation or size of enterprise.

Context

The job vacancy rate, in part, reflects the unmet demand for labour, as well as potential mismatches between the skills and availability of those who are unemployed and those sought by employers. Job vacancy statistics are used by the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) to analyse and monitor the evolution of the labour market at a national and European level. These statistics are also a key indicator for assessing the business cycle and for a structural analysis of the economy.

Policy developments in this area have mainly focused on trying to improve the labour market by more closely matching supply and demand, through:

modernising and strengthening labour market institutions, notably employment services;
removing obstacles to worker mobility across Europe;
better anticipating skills needs, labour market shortages and bottlenecks;
managing economic migration;
improving the adaptability of workers and enterprises so that there is a greater capacity to anticipate, trigger and absorb economic and social change.

The European jobs and mobility portal (EURES) was set-up with the aim of providing job seekers in the EU with the opportunity to consult all job vacancies publicised in each of the Member States’ employment services. The website provides access to a range of job vacancies from 31 European countries (the 27 EU Member States, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland). In autumn 2011, there were 1.23 million job vacancies advertised by over 25 000 registered employers on the website, while more than 700 000 people had posted their CVs on the website.

European job days are another EU initiative in this domain and 2011 was the fifth edition of this programme of activities: hundreds of events were organised across Europe with the aim of raising awareness about the opportunities and practicalities of living and working in another European country, encouraging mobility throughout the EU, and putting job candidates in touch with employers who have job vacancies. The events typically include job fairs, seminars, lectures, workshops and cultural events, all aimed at improving labour mobility.