Employment up, labour market slack down in Q3 2021 (Eurostat figures)

In the EU, the employment rate of people aged 20-64 stood at 73.5% in the third quarter of 2021, which represents an increase of 0.7 percentage points (pp) compared with the second quarter of 2021.

The labour market slack, which comprises all people who have an unmet need for employment and of which one of the main components is unemployment, amounted to 12.9% of the extended labour force aged 20-64 in the third quarter of 2021, down from 13.7% in the second quarter 2021 (-0.8 pp).

This information comes from data on the labour market in the third quarter of 2021 published by Eurostat on 13 January 2021.

Huge differences among the EU Member States

Changes in the employment rate between the second and the third quarter of 2021 varied across the EU Member States. The highest increases were recorded in Greece (+1.8 pp), Cyprus (+1.6 pp), Ireland (+1.5 pp) as well as in Lithuania and Austria (both +1.1 pp).

While employment rose in 24 EU Member States, it remained stable in Bulgaria and Croatia, and decreased in Finland (-0.2 pp).