In 2023, more than 75% (195.7 million) of the EU‘s 20 to 64-year-olds were employed, the highest share recorded since the start of the time series in 2009. This marks 3 consecutive years of growth after a drop to 72% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This information comes from the data on the labour market published recently by Eurostat. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.
Source dataset: lfsi_emp_a
Among the EU countries, the highest employment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (84%), Sweden (83%) and Estonia (82%). The lowest rates were recorded in Italy (66%), Greece (67%) and Romania (69%).
Women more over-qualified than men
In 2023, the EU over-qualification rate was 22%, with 21% for men and 23% for women. Over-qualification is when people with tertiary education are employed in occupations that do not require such a high level of education.
Among the EU countries, the over-qualification rate was highest in Spain (36%), followed by Greece (31%) and Cyprus (30%).
Meanwhile, Luxembourg (5%), Denmark and Czechia (each 13%) recorded the lowest rates.
Source dataset: lfsa_eoqgan
In 18 of the 27 EU countries, women had higher over-qualification rates than men, with the largest differences recorded in Malta and Slovakia (both +8 percentage points (pp)) and Italy (+7 pp).
However, in 9 EU countries, men had higher over-qualification rates, with the biggest differences recorded in Lithuania (+5 pp), Latvia (+4 pp) and Bulgaria (+3 pp).