In 2023, the EU employment rate stood at 75.3%, 0.7 percentage points (pp) higher than in 2022. This is the highest level in the entire available time series.
Among the EU regions at level 2 of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2), the Polish capital region of Warszawski stołeczny had the highest employment rate last year (86.5%). The second highest rate was recorded in Bratislavský kraj in Slovakia (85.8%), while the third highest rate was observed in the German region of Trier (85.4%).
By contrast, in three regions in southern Italy, less than half of the working age population was employed: Calabria (48.4%), Campania (48.4%) and Sicily (48.7%).
The largest regional disparities in Italy
In 2023, Italy had the highest regional disparities, with a coefficient of variation of 16.3 per cent, ahead of Belgium (8.5 per cent) and Romania (7.7 per cent). The lowest regional disparities in employment rates, with a coefficient of variation of 2.0 per cent or less, were recorded in Portugal, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands.
All Eastern and Baltic countries with multiple regions, as well as Denmark, Ireland, Spain and Sweden, reported their highest employment rate in their capital region. In contrast, Belgium, Germany and Austria reported some of their lowest employment rates in their capital regions.
More information at EUROSTAT