Employment keeps growing in the region

In the second quarter of 2024, the employment rate for people aged 20-64 in the EU was at 75.8%, showing a 0.2 percentage point increase compared to the first quarter of 2024. At the same time, labor market slack decreased marginally to 11.0% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter. The job vacancy rate also declined to 2.4% in the second quarter of 2024 and remained lower than the peak of 3.1% in 2Q22. We also analyzed the broader employment changes in the first half of the year. Employment in the EU increased by 0.4 percentage point, with all CEE countries experiencing growth, particularly Croatia with an increase of almost 3 percentage points. In 1H24, employment changes were mildest in Poland (0.2 percentage point) and Czechia (0.1 percentage point), but Czechia rebounded strongly in 2Q24 by 1 percentage point compared to 1Q24 when it saw a drop in employment. Employment growth in 1H24 was more substantial in most of the countries than it was in 2023, with the exception of Poland and Czechia, where employment grew by a higher margin in 2023.