[ad_1]
Almost three quarters (74.9 per cent) of the working-age population, indicating those between 20 and 64 years old, were employed by the end of 2022, showing an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous quarter.
Eurostat, the European Office for Statistics has revealed that as employment rates grow, the labour market slack, indicating people who aren’t employed for certain reasons, decreases by 0.1 percentage points, reaching 11.5 per cent of the extended labour force between 20 and 64 years old, compared to the third quarter of 2022, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, indicating months like October, November and December, 194.3 million people in the EU were employed, while the labour market slack, reaching 24.5 million persons.
Unemployment, as the main reason for labour market slack, was the cause for 12.2 million persons participating in the labour market slack during the fourth quarter of 2022 and the EU unemployment rate, adjusted on seasons, remained stable at 5.9 per cent, compared to the previous quarter.
Underemployed part-time workers accounted for 2.4 per cent of the extended labour force, while those that are available for work but not seeking work represented 2.6 per cent of the total, both scoring a decrease of 0.1 percentage points and those actively seeking work but not available to take up work remained unchanged from the third quarter, consisting for 0.7 per cent of the total unemployment in the EU.
The same source shows that unemployment rates stand at similar levels to pre-pandemic levels, which were already decreasing rates compared to previous years.
As per countries, Luxembourg, Croatia and Malta witnessed the greatest decreases in labour market slack, with the latter experiencing a 0.8 percentage points decrease while Luxembourg saw a 1.7 pp decrease. In addition, labour market slack decreased by 0.7 pp in Italy, Greece and Slovenia, respectively.
On the other hand, it remained stable in Spain, Germany, Estonia, Austria, Slovakia and Romania, while it increased in nine countries.
The employment rates recorded between the third and fourth quarter of the year, changed in almost all countries, except for Germany, Belgium, France and Romania.
The largest decreases were noticed in Lithuania (1.5 pp), Denmark and Luxembourg (both 0.4 pp) and Cyprus as well as Portugal (both 0.3 pp). On the other hand, the highest increases in employment were recorded in Croatia and Malta (both 1.4 pp), Poland (0.9 pp), Bulgaria and Italy, by 0.7 pp, respectively.
As per the gender employment gap, the employment rate of women was up by 0.3 pp during the fourth quarter of 2022, while the employment rate of men increased by 0.1 pp.
“The largest changes in gender gaps among EU Member States were found in Croatia (-2.3 pp due to an increase of 2.5 pp for women and an increase of 0.2 pp for men), Lithuania (+1.7 pp due to a decrease of -2.4 pp for women and a decrease of 0.7 pp for men), Finland (-1.6 pp due to an increase of +1.2 pp for women and a decrease of -0.4 pp for men) and Latvia (-1.1 pp due to an increase of +0.3 pp for women and a decrease of -0.8 pp for men),” Eurostat explained.
As per unemployment rates, it remained mainly stable at 5.9 per cent of the EU labour force. Countries that didn’t experience many changes in their unemployment rates include Germany (three per cent), Estonia (5.6 per cent), Malta (2.7 per cent) and Slovakia (5.9 per cent).
Unemployment rates in Croatia, on the other hand, decreased from 7.1 per cent to 6.2 per cent, as well as in Greece (from 12.4 per cent to 11.8 per cent), Finland (from 6.8 per cent to 6.2 per cent), and Luxembourg (from 4.4 per cent to four per cent).
In addition, decreasing unemployment rates were also recorded in Slovenia, Italy, Latvia, France and Bulgaria, recording 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, and 0.1 percentage points decrease, respectively. The unemployment rates in the Netherlands decreased by 0.1 percentage points, from three per cent to 2.0 per cent as well as in Poland (from 2.9 per cent to 2.8 per cent).
Belgium, Lithuania and Cyprus recorded increases of 0.4 and 0.3 percentage points in unemployment rates, amounting to 5.5, 6.3 and seven per cent of the population in the respective countries being unemployed.
[ad_2]
Source link