3. Labour Market Developments
3.3. Labour market participation
Labour market participation increased strongly in 2022. Following a spike in 2021 during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the activity rate (people aged 15-64) in the EU increased by 0.9 pp, on average, to 74.5%, although it then stagnated in the second half of 2022. Despite increasing slightly more for women (+1 pp) than for men (+0.7 pp) the activity rate remained far lower for women overall (69.5% and 79.4%, respectively). The activity rate was highest for people with tertiary education (89.4%, +0.4 pp from 2021) and upper secondary vocational education (81.0%, +0.8 pp) and lowest for people with lower educational attainment (52.4%, +1.2 pp) (Chart 1.10). It was also lower for people born outside the EU (72.1%, +1.2 pp from 2021) than for natives (74.5%, +0.8 pp from the previous year).
Chart 1.10
People with lower educational attainment tend to be in a disadvantaged position in the labour market
Various labour market indicators, by educational attainment (% of respective population)
Note: International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 0-2: Less than primary, primary and lower secondary education; ISCED 3-4: Upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education; ISCED 5-8: Tertiary education. 2022 data in bars, 2021 data in dots.
Source: Eurostat [lfsi_educ_a], [lfsa_argaed], [lfsa_urgaed], [lfsa_sup_edu], [trng_lfse_03]).
The labour market remained very tight, with the slack indicator continuing the steady decline evident since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, it reached 12.2% of the extended labour force (aged 15-74), 1.8 pp less than in 2021. That decline was slightly stronger for women (-2.0 pp, to 14.2%) than for men (-1.6 pp, to 10.5%). The main drivers for the reduction in labour market slack were the decrease in unemployment (-0.8 pp to 5.9%) and the proportion of people available to work but not looking for a job (-0.7 pp to 3.0%). In addition, the proportion of part-time workers seeking more hours declined by 0.2 pp to 2.6%, while people seeking a job but not being available remained stable, at 0.8%. The labour market slack declined for people across all educational levels but remained much higher for those with up to secondary education (23.7%, -2.8 pp from 2021) than for people with tertiary education (7.7%, -1.2 pp) or upper secondary vocational education (9.6%, -1.6 pp).