Millions of Vacant Jobs Threaten to Slow Growth in Europe

The story of the labor shortage in Europe has been ongoing for several years. They say Europe is aging, birth rates are declining, so migrants will be the ones to save European economies and markets. A capable workforce is coming to take on jobs that current original Europeans do not want to do. This is how the narrative about foreign workers coming to enrich European society has gone.

However, it seems that even foreign workers are not eager for jobs. According to data from the German Federal Statistical Office, there are currently more than one million job vacancies that no one is filling. In the United Kingdom, that number has stalled at 750 thousand vacant positions, while in France, it has dropped to ‘only’ half a million vacant jobs.

Data from Eurostat and national statistical offices show how serious the labor shortage problems have become across the continent.

According to Eurostat’s definition, a job vacancy refers to a paid position that is newly created, unfilled, or will soon become vacant. The employer is actively seeking a candidate from outside the company and plans to hire them immediately or within a certain timeframe. The job vacancy rate (Job Vacancy Rate – JVR) is used for measurement, which takes into account both the number of employed and the number of open positions. For example, a JVR of 3 percent means that out of 100 jobs, three remain unfilled.

EU Average

In the second quarter of 2025, the average job vacancy rate in the European Union is 2.1 percent, which is a slight decrease compared to the first quarter (2.2 percent) and a more significant drop compared to the same period last year (2.4 percent).

The differences among countries are substantial, ranging from just 0.6 percent in Romania to as high as 4.2 percent in the Netherlands. Above the European average are Belgium (4.1 percent), Austria and Norway (both 3.4 percent), and Malta (3 percent). The lowest rates are recorded in Spain and Poland (0.8 percent), Bulgaria (0.9 percent), and Slovakia and Turkey (1.1 percent). Germany and France, as the largest economies on the continent, have a JVR of 2.5 percent, while in Italy it is 1.7 percent.

When looking at the total numbers, Germany leads with about 1.05 million job vacancies, while the United Kingdom is in second place with 781 thousand. Following are France (504 thousand) and the Netherlands (400 thousand).

Among other countries, Belgium has 170 thousand, Austria 148 thousand, Spain 145 thousand, Sweden 113 thousand, Norway 107 thousand, and Poland 101 thousand open positions. At the bottom are Iceland (5 thousand), Luxembourg (7 thousand), Malta (8 thousand), and North Macedonia (10 thousand).

Skills Shortage Becomes a Key Problem

Eurostat explains that the job vacancy rate reflects not only the demand for workers but also the gap between the skills available among the unemployed and those sought by employers. According to a 2023 survey by ManpowerGroup, as many as 75 percent of employers in 21 European countries had difficulty finding workers with the appropriate skills, compared to 42 percent five years earlier. The greatest difficulties were reported by Germany and Greece (82 percent).

Similar results were confirmed by the Eurobarometer survey. As many as 54 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU ranked the lack of qualified workers among their three biggest business challenges.

Eurostat publishes data on job vacancies by sector, but detailed data by occupation is more often provided by commercial platforms. According to the Indeed portal, the largest number of job postings in Europe relates to occupations in healthcare, the IT sector, construction, and logistics. When it comes to salaries, specialized IT professions and positions in the financial sector still lead the way.

According to all this data, it seems that the European labor market is caught between two extremes, millions of unemployed on one side and millions of open jobs on the other. There is not much talk about solutions, except for the constant import of labor from third countries, which has intensified recently. And whether this capable workforce is arriving, you can assess for yourself.