The job vacancy rate in the euro area (EA18) was 1.7% in the second quarter of 2014, unchanged compared to the previous quarter, but up from 1.5% in the second quarter of 2013, according to figures published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. The job vacancy rate in the EU28 was 1.6% in the second quarter of 2014, also unchanged compared to the previous quarter and up from 1.5% in the second quarter of 2013.

In the euro area, the job vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2014 was 1.0% in industry and construction and 2.2% in services. In the EU28 the rate was 1.1% in industry and construction and 2.1% in services.

Member States

Among the Member States for which comparable data are available, the highest job vacancy rates in the second quarter of 2014 were recorded in Germany (2.8%), Belgium (2.4%) and the United Kingdom (2.3%), and the lowest in Latvia (0.4%), Poland (0.5% in the first quarter of 2014), Portugal and Spain (both 0.6%).

Among the Member States for which data for the second quarter of 2014 are available5, the job vacancy rate rose in fifteen, remained stable in four and fell in seven compared with the second quarter of 2013. The largest increases were registered in Cyprus and the United Kingdom (both +0.4 percentage points), the Czech Republic, Germany and Luxembourg (all +0.3 pp), and the largest decreases in Spain (-0.3 pp) and Austria (-0.2 pp).