Press Release
Euro Area Employment Soars to Record Level Despite Looming Recession
2022-10-04
Brussels, 04 October 2022... The Euro Area reached record-high levels of employment, with 163 million employees in work. Unemployment also fell to record lows, reaching 6.6%. This despite declining hiring intentions across all industries since March.
The latest research from The Conference Board into Europe’s labour market trends shows that nearly 3 million more people have a job in Q2 2022 versus pre-pandemic levels. It also finds that increased female participation in the labour market is a key driver of the post-pandemic recovery. Meanwhile, the composition of Europe’s labour market is also shifting towards more senior workers.
Sara Murray, Managing Director, International, The Conference Board, said: ‘Europe’s labour market today counts more active workers, on average older, with a relatively stronger female presence.’ She added: ‘While these are all very positive trends for workers, companies and policymakers need to remain vigilant to the threat that the cost-of-living crisis poses to workers. Inflation is nearing double figures, which is piling pressure on households to satisfy their basic needs.’
The Conference Board’s bi-annual outlook analyses data from 11 European economies on labour market dynamics, wages, inflation and the implication of these findings for people strategies, to generate future-focused, tangible business insights for the C-suite. Read on for more insights from The Conference Board’s latest Labour Market Outlook report.
Further insights from the Labour Market Outlook H2 2022
- The labour market remains particularly tight in the Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, where there are more vacancies than job searchers.
- In Germany, there are now more than 1.5 vacancies for every unemployed worker on the market; while for the Netherlands the figure stands at 1.43.
- The composition of the European labour market is changing towards seniors.
- While the number of active prime age (25-54) workers is shrinking, the number of active people in the 55-64 age bracket has soared.
- Since 2012, there are 42% more active males between the ages of 55 and 64, while the number stands at 57% for their female counterparts.
- More and more 65+ workers are remaining in active employment. This profile of worker tends to opt for self-employment, or part-time and/or gig work. Over 50% of workers in this cohort work part-time, while 41.6% are self-employed.
- Almost 33% of workers choosing to continue work while receiving their pension did so for non-financial reasons.
- While the number of active prime age (25-54) workers is shrinking, the number of active people in the 55-64 age bracket has soared.
- Ukrainian refugees are integrating successfully into the European labour market.
- More than 380,000 Ukrainians have found a job in Poland according to official figures – equal to 30% of the total number of refugees.
- In the Netherlands, 31,000 Ukrainian refugees have found gainful employment – representing 60% of those of working age.
- Hungary has introduced measures to incentivise employers to hire Ukrainian refugees.
Media Contact: Marie-Jeanne.Merillet@conference-board.org
About The Conference Board
The Conference Board is the member-driven think tank that delivers Trusted Insights for What’s Ahead®. Founded in 1916, we are a non-partisan, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org.
