The highest figure since the time series began recording 15 years ago (2009) was recorded for employment in Europe in 2023: more than 75%, i.e. 195.3 million people aged 20 to 64 were workers.
This result marks 3 years of continuous growth in the employment rate (after falling to 72% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), according to European statistics agency Eurostat.
Among the countries EU the highest employment rates are recorded in the Netherlands (84%), Sweden (83%) and Estonia (82%). The lowest percentages were recorded in Italy (66%), Greece (67%) and Romania (69%).
The percentage of workers with higher qualifications than required for their jobs was 22% in the EU, more precisely 21% among men and 23% among women. The percentages above reflect college-educated workers in occupations not requiring such a high level education.
Among EU countries, the percentage of overqualified workers was highest in Spain (36%), Greece (31%) and Cyprus (30%). The lowest percentage was recorded in Luxembourg (5%), Denmark and the Czech Republic (13%).
In 18 of the 27 EU countries, women outperformed men in more qualifications, with the largest differences observed in Malta and Slovakia (both +8 percentage points) and Italy (+7 percentage points).
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