29/10/2021 10:06
The unmet demand for employment (or labour market slack) amounted to 14.5% of the extended labour force (aged 15-74 years) in the EU during the second quarter of 2021, according to data published by Eurostat.
Eurostat notes that a major component of the labour market slack is unemployment, which amounted for almost half of the labour market slack (7.0% of the extended labour force in the EU) during the second quarter of 2021.
The remaining groups making up the labour market slack were: ‘persons available to work but not seeking employment’ (3.8% of the extended labour force), ‘underemployed part-time workers’ (2.9%) and ‘persons seeking work but not immediately available’ (0.8%).
In Cyprus, the labour market slack amounted to 16.7% of the extended labour force, which is higher than the EU average. Unemployment amounted for about half of the unmet demand for employment (8.7%), while the second largest contributor where underemployed part-time workers (4.7%).
Among the EU Member States, the labour market slack was highest in Spain (25.1% of the extended labour force), Italy (23.6%) and Greece (23.2%). The lowest levels of labour market slack were observed in Czechia (4.6%), Malta (5.8%) and Poland (6.2%).
Unemployment was the largest component of the labour market slack for all the EU Member States in the second quarter of 2021, except for Italy and the Netherlands.
In Italy, ‘people available to work but not seeking employment’ accounted for 11.5% of the extended labour force and made the largest contribution to the labour market slack in that country.
In the Netherlands, ‘underemployed part-time workers’ (6.0% of the extended labour force) made the largest contribution to the labour market slack in the country.