The European Commission recently published its “Employment and Social Development Quarterly Review” drawing a positive picture of the past months of 2017. According to the report employment in the Union rose by 1.7%. This corresponds to an additional 4 million people employed, whereas permanent jobs and full-time employment were the main contributors to this expansion.
Marianne Thyssen, Commissioner for Employment & Social Affairs, stressed the importance to use the momentum to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights for “fair working conditions, equal access to the labour market and decent social protection. Now is the time to make sure all citizens and workers can benefit from these positive evolutions on the labour market.”
Nonetheless, large disparities among Member States remain. National employment rates ranged from 58% in Greece to 82% in Sweden.
The report shows that unemployment in the EU is approaching pre-crisis levels at a steady pace. Unemployment has receded by around 8.6 million people since its peak recorded in April 2013 and remained below 18 million people in December 2017, the lowest level since November 2008.
The Quarterly Review on Employment and Social Developments in Europe provides an overview of recent social and labour market developments in the EU. It looks at short-term changes in GDP and employment trends.
To know more on employment in the EU, have a look at the full report.