European Job Vacancy Trends: Which Sectors Need Workers Most

Where vacancy rates stand now

According to Eurostat, 2.3% of jobs in the euro area were vacant in Q1 2026, up slightly from 2.2% in Q4 2025 but down from 2.4% in Q1 2025. Across the EU as a whole, the rate was 2.1% - unchanged from Q4 2025 and down from 2.2% a year earlier.

Among EU countries with comparable data available, the Netherlands recorded the highest vacancy rate at 4.0%, followed by Belgium at 3.4%, Malta at 3.3%, and Austria at 3.1%. Romania had the lowest rate at 0.6%, with Poland at 0.8% and Bulgaria, Spain, and Slovakia all at 0.9%.

How demand shifted since 2020

The hiring market has moved in distinct phases over the past several years.

In the euro area, the job vacancy rate dropped by 0.5 percentage points in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. Demand then recovered sharply, rising by 0.7 percentage points in both 2021 and 2022. Since that peak, the rate has been falling: down 0.2 percentage points in 2023, down 0.4 percentage points in 2024, and down a further 0.3 percentage points in 2025.

The EU followed a near-identical path. The rate fell by 0.5 percentage points in 2020, rebounded by 0.6 percentage points in both 2021 and 2022, then declined by 0.2 percentage points in 2023, 0.4 percentage points in 2024, and 0.3 percentage points in 2025.

Which sectors are hiring most

Looking at vacancy rates by economic activity in Q1 2026, the highest rates in the euro area were recorded in:

• Administrative and support service activities (which includes temporary employment agencies): 3.2%
• Accommodation and food service activities: 3.2%
• Construction: 3.1%
• Telecommunications, IT, computer programming and related services: 2.8%
• Professional, scientific and technical activities: 2.5%

EU-level figures for the same sectors were close but slightly lower. Administrative and support services led at 3.1%, construction came in at 2.8%, IT-related activities at 2.6%, and professional and scientific activities at 2.4%.

Country-level swings over the past year

Compared with Q1 2025, vacancy rates increased in 3 EU countries, held flat in 8, and fell in 16. Malta saw the largest rise, up 0.4 percentage points, while Portugal and Slovenia each gained 0.2 percentage points.

On the other side - setting aside Czechia, whose figures were affected by a methodological change in 2025 - Belgium recorded the steepest drop at 0.7 percentage points, followed by Austria at 0.5 percentage points, and Denmark and Italy each at 0.4 percentage points. France fell by 0.3 percentage points.

Occupation-level demand: what experimental data shows

Eurostat also publishes experimental figures on vacancy rates by occupation, derived from online job advertisement data. These numbers come with important caveats: occupations rarely advertised online - including teachers and many healthcare roles - are not captured in this dataset, and IT-related roles may be over-represented. The figures below reflect only what appears in online job ads, not the full picture of hiring difficulty.

With those limits in mind, 2024 data for the EU showed the highest vacancy rates among sales, marketing and development managers at 8.4%; manufacturing labourers and other clerical support workers, both at 7.3%; other sales workers at 6.1%; and artistic, cultural and culinary associate professionals at 6.0%.