Greece has lowest job vacancy rate in eurozone

At 0.7 percent, Greece has the lowest rate of job vacancies in the euro area in the second quarter of the year, in sharp contrast to top performer Czech Republic’s 5.4 percent, the European statistics agency reported on Monday.

The job vacancy rate in the 19-member eurozone was 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2018, remaining stable compared with the previous quarter and up from 1.9 percent in the second quarter of 2017.

In the 28-member European Union, the job vacancy rate was 2.2 percent in the second quarter of this year, stable compared with the previous quarter and up from 2 percent in the second quarter of 2017.

Among the member states for which comparable data were available, Eurostat found that the highest job vacancy rates in Q2 were recorded in the Czech Republic (5.4 percent), Belgium (3.5 pct), the Netherlands (3.1 pct) and Germany (2.9 pct).

In contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Greece (0.7 percent), Bulgaria Spain and Portugal (all 0.9 pct).

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the job vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2018 rose in 20 member states, remained stable in Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal and Romania, but fell in Estonia (-0.3 percentage points – pp).

The largest increases were registered in the Czech Republic (+1.8 pp), Latvia (+0.8 pp), Cyprus (+0.6 pp), Hungary, the Netherlands and Finland (all +0.5 pp), Eurostat reported.

Source: ekathimerini.com