The Vacancy Rate Within The Union Has Risen

The Vacancy Rate Within The Union Has Risen

The vacancy rate in the euro area and across the European Union in the third quarter of this year rose to 1.7 percent from 1.6 percent in the third quarter, but fell compared to the third quarter last year, when it was 2.2 percent. In Slovakia, the vacancy rate did not change quarter-on-quarter between July and September, remaining at 0.8 percent, down from one-third quarter last year. The statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat, informed about it on Tuesday. Within the EU countries for which data were available, the Czechia (5.3 percent) and Belgium (3.3 percent) and the lowest Greece (0.5 percent) and Poland and Portugal (both 0.7 percent) had the highest vacancy rates in the third quarter of 2020. Year-on-year, the vacancy rate fell in 24 EU countries. The most significant decrease was in Germany, by one percentage point (pp). This was followed by the Czechia (down 0.9 pp) and Latvia (down 0.8 pp). In Bulgaria and France, the vacancy rate increased by 0.1 pp year-on-year and did not change in Lithuania. The vacancy rate is defined as the percentage ratio of the number of vacancies to the total number of occupied posts and the posts that employers want to fill.