EU labor market recovers in 2021

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The EU labor market, hit hard by the pandemic, managed to recover in 2021, the 27-member bloc's statistical department said on Thursday.

Eurostat announced that the share of employed people in the union's population was 73.1% in 2021, or 189.7 million people.

The employment rate fell 1 percentage point (pp) in 2020 versus 2019 but rose 0.4 pp in 2021 versus 2019.

The highest rate was seen in the Netherlands with 81.7%, followed by Sweden with 80.7% and the Czech Republic with 80%.

Among members, the rate was higher than 78% – one of the three targets set in the 2030 action plan of the European Pillar of Social Rights – in eight EU member states, while it was less than 70% in Croatia (68.2%), Spain (67.7%), Romania (67.1%), Italy (62.7%), and Greece (62.6%).

While only four EU members were able to boost their employment rate in 2020 – Malta, Poland, Croatia, and Romania – in 2021, 16 member states managed to post increases, with the largest by Poland (+3.1 pp), Romania (+2.0 pp), and Greece and Malta (both +1.8 pp).

Eurostat added: "On the other hand, 11 countries lagged behind, showing a 2021 employment rate lower than in 2019.

"The largest declines compared with 2019 were recorded in Latvia (-2.0 pp), Estonia and Austria (both -1.2 pp), Bulgaria (-1.1 pp) and Slovakia (-1.0 pp)."