The highest rate since the start of recording the time series 15 years ago (2009) was recorded by employment in Europe in 2023, as more than 75%, i.e. 195.3 million people aged 20 to 64 had joined the workforce.
This result marks 3 years of continuous growth after falling to 72% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the European statistics agency Eurostat.
TtE: The lack of staff is the biggest thorn in the labor market
Among EU countries, the highest employment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (84%), Sweden (83%) and Estonia (82%). The lowest percentages were recorded in Italy (66%), Greece (67%) and Romania (69%).
Women outperform men in job qualifications
The percentage of workers with more qualifications than their job requires was 22% in the EU, and more specifically it was 21% for men and 23% for women. The above percentages show workers with higher education qualifications who are employed in occupations that do not require such a high level of education.
Among EU countries, the percentage of overqualified workers was highest in Spain (36%), Greece (31%) and Cyprus (30%). The lowest percentage was recorded in Luxembourg (5%), Denmark and the Czech Republic (13%).
In 18 of the 27 EU countries, women outperformed men in more qualifications, with the biggest differences in Malta and Slovakia (both +8 percentage points (pp)) and Italy (+7 percentage points) units).
