The job vacancy rate in the euro area stood at 2.3% in the first quarter of this year, up from 2.2% in the the previous quarter but below the 2.4% recorded a year earlier, new data from Eurostat has revealed.
Across the EU, the rate remained unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2025 at 2.1%, while also declining from 2.2% in the first quarter of last year.
Country by country
On a country-by country basis, The Netherlands recorded the highest job vacancy rate at 4.0%, followed by Belgium (3.4%), Malta (3.3%) and Austria (3.1%). At the other end of the scale, Romania reported a vacancy rate of 0.6%, while Poland stood at 0.8%. Bulgaria, Spain and Slovakia each recorded rates of 0.9%.
Compared with the same period last year, job vacancy rates increased in only three member states. Malta recorded the largest increase, rising by 0.4 percentage points, while Portugal and Slovenia both increased by 0.2 percentage points.
Some 16 European countries recorded declines over the year, with Belgium posting the largest fall at 0.7 percentage points. Austria saw a decline of 0.5 percentage points, while Denmark, Italy and France also recorded decreases.
Sector vacancies
Services continued to show stronger demand for labour than industry and construction, Eurostat noted. In the euro area, the vacancy rate reached 2.4% in services compared with 2.0% in industry and construction. Across the EU, the rates were 2.3% and 1.8% respectively.
Among individual sectors, the highest vacancy rates were found in administrative and support service activities, which include temporary employment agencies, at 3.2% in the euro area and 3.1% across the EU. Accommodation and food services also recorded elevated demand at 3.2% in the euro area and 3.0% in the EU. Construction remained another area of labour shortages, with vacancy rates of 3.1% and 2.8% respectively.
Elsewhere, telecommunications, computer programming, consulting, computing infrastructure and other information services recorded vacancy rates of 2.8% in the euro area and 2.6% across the EU. Read more here.
