Job vacancy rate at 2.0%

In the first quarter of 2020, the quarter when COVID-19 containment measures began to be widely introduced by Member States, the job vacancy rate in the euro area was 1.9%, down from 2.2% in the previous quarter and from 2.3% in the first quarter of 2019, according to figures published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In the EU, the job vacancy rate was also 1.9% in the first quarter of 2020, down from 2.1% in the previous quarter and from 2.3% in the first quarter of 2019.

In Cyprus the job vacancy rate was 2.0% in the1st quarter of 2020, same as in the  1st quarter of 2019 and up from 1.3% in  the 4th quarter in 2019.

In Greece the job vacancy rate was 0.5% in the 4th quarter of 2019 and 0.6% in the 1st quarter of 2020 (latest available data). 

In the euro area, the job vacancy rate in the first quarter of 2020 was 1.6% in industry and construction, and 2.0% in services. In the EU, the rate was 1.7% in industry and construction, and 2.0% in services.

Among the Member States for which comparable data are available (see country notes), the highest job vacancy rates in the first quarter of 2020 were recorded in Czechia (5.7%), Belgium (3.2%), and Austria (2.9%).

In contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Poland (0.6%), Italy, Ireland and Bulgaria (all 0.7%).

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the job vacancy rate, among countries for which data is available in the first quarter of 2020, fell in twenty Member States and remained stable in Spain, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Finland.

The largest decreases were registered in Italy, Latvia and Malta (-1.1 pp in all of them).