In the EU, the employment rate of people aged 20-64 stood at 74.8% in the second quarter of 2022, an increase of 0.3 percentage points (pp) compared with the first quarter of 2022.
The labour market slack, which comprises all people who have an unmet need for employment and of which one of the main components is unemployment, amounted to 11.5% of the extended labour force aged 20-64 in the second quarter of 2022, down from 11.9% in the first quarter 2022 (-0.4 pp), EuroStat reports.
Changes in the employment rate between the first quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2022 varied across the EU Member States. The highest increases were recorded in Lithuania (+1.6 pp), Latvia (+0.9 pp) as well as Ireland and Slovakia (both +0.8 pp).
While employment rose in 20 EU Member States, it remained stable in two (Hungary and Slovenia) and decreased in Croatia and Belgium (both -0.5 pp), Luxembourg ( 0.2 pp) and Cyprus and Portugal (both -0.1 pp).
