Employment grew in 9 out of 10 European Union regions in 2017

In 2017, 253 of the EU regions (90%) saw their employment grow. In 26 other regions, the number of persons employed decreased and in a further 2 employment remained stable, according to the figures released today, 26 February, by Eurostat.

Figures by regions

Growth in employment varied widely across the EU regions and within countries. The highest employment growth rates were recorded in Mayotte in France (+7.7%), Malta, Algarve in Portugal and Central Bohemia in Czechia (all +5.3%), followed by Herefordshire, Worcestershire & Warwickshire in the United Kingdom (+4.7%), SouthCentral in Bulgaria and Lisbon Metropolitan Area in Portugal (both +4.1%).

At the opposite end of the scale, the biggest decreases in employment were registered in Basilicata in Italy (-2.7%), Cumbria in the United Kingdom (-2.4%), Central and Western Region in Lithuania (-2.1%), South Yorkshire in the United Kingdom (-2.0%) and Liguria in Italy (-1.9%).

In the EU as a whole, employment grew by 1.6% in 2017.

These data on regional employment, compiled on the basis of the National Accounts, are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Employment growth

In 19 EU regions, the employment growth exceeded 3%. Three each of these regions were located in Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom, two in Romania and one each in Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia.

In 25 EU regions, the number of employed people decreased in 2017. In nine of these regions, the number of employed fell by more than 1%. Five of these regions were located in the United Kingdom, two in Italy and one in Lithuania and Poland.

Geographical information

These data are based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2016) as set out in the amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017.

NUTS 2016 (valid from 1 January 2018) provides an uniform, consistent breakdown of territorial units for the production of regional statistics for the EU and lists 104 regions at NUTS 1, 281 regions at NUTS 2 and 1348 regions at NUTS 3 level