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Euro Area Employment Soars to Record Level

04 October 2022 | Press Release

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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 h3 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.

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.