Brussels, 25/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - Not only is the employment market of the EU far from returning to its pre-crisis form of 2008 regarding the numbers of jobs available (the difference is 24%), but it is currently splitting the EU in two, according to the latest edition of the European Vacancy Monitor, which was published by the European Commission on Monday 24 February. Some countries are experiencing a shortage of labour whilst, in others, the number of job seekers is constantly on the rise.
In general, the second quarter of 2013 was marked by stagnating levels of job vacancies and a 4% drop in recruitment, which was higher than in the previous quarter. However, as Commissioner Laszlo Andor stressed, it is the growing divide between the North and the South of the EU which is the most worrying thing: “Diverging job prospects in Northern and Southern Europe underline mismatches in the European labour market, linked also to eurozone asymmetries”, he stressed, in his comments on the findings of this most recent analysis. The greatest shortages of labour are recorded in Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Austria and Sweden, whilst the unemployment rate continues to rise in Greece, Spain and Slovakia. The report is available at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=11426&langId=en. (JK/transl.fl)