In the EU, the employment rate of people aged 20-64 stood at 75.3% in the third quarter of 2023, a decrease of 0.1% compared with the second quarter of 2023, according to data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Between the second and the third quarter of 2023 the employment rate varied across the EU countries. Malta saw an increase of 1.1% while Belgium registered an uptick of 0.5%, the two highest increases among the 11 EU countries where employment rose. The employment rate remained stable in Luxembourg and the Netherlands and decreased in 14 EU countries, with the steepest decreases recorded in Croatia (-1.3%) and Bulgaria (-1.1%).

Labour market slack, encompassing those with unmet employment needs, a large part of which includes unemployed individuals, amounted to 11.3% of the extended labour force aged 20-64 in the third quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, in the third quarter of 2023, the job vacancy rate was 2.9% in the euro area, down from 3.0% in the previous quarter and 3.1% in the third quarter of 2022.

The job vacancy rate in the EU was 2.6% in the third quarter of 2023, down from 2.7% in the previous quarter and from 2.9% in the third quarter of 2022.

Among the member states for which comparable data are available, the highest job vacancy rates in the third quarter of 2023 were recorded in the Belgium (4.7%), Netherlands (4.5%), Austria (4.2%) and Germany (4.1%).

By contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Bulgaria and Romania (0.8% in both of them), Spain and Poland (0.9% in both of them), Slovakia (1.1%) and Ireland (1.2%).

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the job vacancy rate increased in five member states, remained stable in four member states and decreased in eighteen member states. The increases were observed in Cyprus (+0.7%), Greece (+0.5%), Croatia (+0.4%), Lithuania and Malta (+0.1% in both of them). The largest decreases were recorded in Czechia (-1.0%), Luxembourg (-0.9%), Austria and Denmark (-0.8% in both of them) as well as Finland (-0.7%).