In the third quarter of 2022, the job vacancy rate was 3.1% in the euro area, down from 3.2% in the previous quarter and up from 2.6% in the third quarter of 2021, according to figures published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. The job vacancy rate in the EU was 2.9% in the third quarter of 2022, down from

3.0% in the previous quarter and up from 2.4% in the third quarter of 2021. In the euro area, the job vacancy rate in the third quarter of 2022 was 2.8% in industry and construction and 3.5% in services. In the EU, the rate was 2.6% in industry and construction and 3.2% in services.

Member States.        Among the Member States for which comparable data are available (see country notes), the highest job vacancy rates in the third quarter of 2022 were recorded in Austria (5.0%), Belgium and the Netherlands (4.9% in both of them). By contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Bulgaria (0.8%), Spain and Romania (0.9% in both of them). Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the job vacancy rate increased in seventeen Member States, remained stable in Bulgaria as well as Ireland and decreased in seven Member States. The largest increases were observed in Austria (+1.2 pp), Germany (+1.0 pp), the Netherlands (+0.7 pp) and Luxembourg (+0.6 pp). The largest decreases were recorded in Czechia (-0.6 pp), Croatia and Finland (both -0.3 pp).