Euro area job vacancy rate at 2.2% (Third quarter 2019)

The job vacancy rate in the euro area (EA19) was 2.2% in the third quarter of 2019, down from 2.3% in the previous quarter and up from 2.1% in the third quarter of 2018, according to figures published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In the EU28, the job vacancy rate was 2.3% in the third quarter of 2019, stable compared with the previous quarter and up from 2.2% in the third quarter of 2018.

In the euro area, the job vacancy rate in the third quarter of 2019 was 1.9% in industry and construction, and 2.5% in services. In the EU28, the rate was 2.0% in industry and construction, and 2.5% in services.

Highest job vacancy rates

Member States Among the Member States for which comparable data are available (see country notes), the highest job vacancy rates in the third quarter of 2019 were recorded in Czechia (6.2%), Belgium (3.4%), Germany and the Netherlands (both 3.2%).

In contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Greece (0.7%, data from the second quarter of 2019), Ireland and Bulgaria (both 0.8%) and Spain (0.9%).

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the job vacancy rate in the third quarter of 2019 rose in nine Member States, remained stable in Denmark, Greece (between the second quarters of 2018 and 2019), Italy, Austria, and Portugal, but fell in fourteen Member States.

The largest increases were registered in Latvia (+0.6 pp), Czechia (+0.3 pp), Germany and the Netherlands (both +0.2 pp). The largest decreases were registered in Slovenia (-0.4 pp) and Hungary (-0.3 pp).