Job vacancies, Q1 2012

Administrative and support service activities had the highest number of job vacancies in the 1st quarter of 2012, with 10 800. Then followed domestic trade with 7 100. The industries with the highest number of employees generally have the highest number of job vacancies. However, in times when the economy is rising, an industry will tend to have more job vacancies.

Job vacancy rate is 2.8

The job vacancy rate in the 1st quarter of 2012 was 2.8; the same as in the 1st quarter of 2011. The job vacancy rate in administrative and support service activities was 7.5 per cent in the 1st quarter of 2012, which is an increase of 0.6 percentage points. The job vacancy rate was 4.6 per cent in residential care activities, which is a decrease of 1.4 percentage points from the 1st quarter of 2011. In information and communication it was 4.2 per cent, which is about the same level as the 1st quarter of 2011.

Germany has the highest job vacancy rate

In the 4th quarter of 2011, Germany had the highest rate of job vacancies among the countries in the EU/EEA area, at 3.0 per cent. The comparison with other countries is based on the 4th quarter of 2011, as the figures of the 1st quarter of 2012 have not yet been published.

Norway had the second largest percentage of job vacancies in the 4th quarter of 2011, with a rate of 2.5 per cent. Austria followed next with 1.8 per cent. The job vacancy rates of Sweden and Finland were 1.3 and 1.6 per cent respectively. The EU countries combined had a job vacancy rate of 1.5 per cent in the 4th quarter of 2011. Agriculture, forestry and fishing are excluded from this international comparison. For more information is available on Eurostat’s website .

Tables:

• Table 1 Job vacancies, by major industry division
• Table 2 Job vacancy rate, by major industry division. Percentage of job vacancies in relation to the number of posts (job vacancies and occupied posts) in each group