Labor market slack remains stable

Labor market slack in the EU (all people who have an unmet need for employment, including unemployed people) amounted to 10.9% of the extended labor force aged 20-64 in 1Q25 marking a 0.1 percentage point increase compared to the last quarter of the previous year. In the CEE region, labor market slack remained flat at 7.5% in 1Q25. Such development in the region as opposed to the entire EU is yet another sign of ongoing tightness of the labor market in the region. Looking from a broader perspective, labor market slack decreased visibly in the region and to a bigger extent compared to the whole EU. Over last decade, labor market slack dropped by roughly 10 percentage points in CEE8 while in the EU by 7.5 percentage points.