The Netherlands boasted the highest employment rate in the European Union in 2024, with a rate of 83.5%, according to data from Eurostat.
Other countries to report an above-average employment rate last year included Malta (83.0%), Czechia (82.3%), Sweden (81.9%), Estonia (81.8%), Germany (81.3%) and Hungary (81.1%).
At the other end of the spectrum, Italy reported the lowest employment rate at 67.1%, followed by Greece on 69.3% and Romania on 69.5%.
Employment rate in the EU
Across the European Union, the employment rate reached a record high of 75.8% last year, which means that some 197.6 million people aged between 20 and 64 were employed.
This marks an increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to 2023 and 1.2 percentage points compared to 2022, Eurostat noted.
The data also indicated a growing trend towards ‘over-qualification’ in the workforce, with some 21.3% of tertiary-educated workers in the EU employed in roles that did not require such a high level of education.
More women (22.0%) were overqualified for their jobs than men (20.5%), according to the data.
Spain had the highest over-qualification rate at 35.0%, followed by Greece at 33.0% and Cyprus at 28.2%. At the other end of the scale, Luxembourg reported an over-qualification rate of 4.7%, while Croatia and Czechia stood at 12.6% and 12.8% respectively.
Employment Rate in EU Member States – 2024 (%)
| Country | Employment Rate (%) |
|---|---|
| Netherlands | 83.5 |
| Malta | 83.0 |
| Czechia | 82.3 |
| Sweden | 81.9 |
| Estonia | 81.8 |
| Germany | 81.3 |
| Hungary | 81.1 |
| Denmark | 80.2 |
| Ireland | 79.8 |
| Cyprus | 79.8 |
| Lithuania | 79.2 |
| Portugal | 78.5 |
| Poland | 78.4 |
| Slovenia | 78.3 |
| Slovakia | 78.1 |
| Latvia | 77.4 |
| Austria | 77.4 |
| Finland | 77.0 |
| Bulgaria | 76.8 |
| France | 75.1 |
| Luxembourg | 74.2 |
| Croatia | 73.6 |
| Belgium | 72.3 |
| Spain | 71.4 |
| Romania | 69.5 |
| Greece | 69.3 |
| Italy | 67.1 |
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