Employment growth in Europe - Which regions are expanding the labor market the fastest?
Greek, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian regions are seeing significant increases in employment rates, according to the latest Eurostat data. The statistics show that the region with the highest employment rate in the EU is the Åland archipelago in Finland, with a rate of 86.4%. It is followed by several central European capitals, such as Warsaw (86.2%), Bratislava (85.4%) and Budapest (85.3%).
These figures come as the European Union has reached a historic employment rate of 75.8% for people aged 20 to 64, an increase of 2.7% compared to 2021. The progress shows that the EU could be on track to meet the 78% employment target by 2030.
Of the 243 regions for which data is available, 113 (or 46.5%) have already reached or exceeded the 78% threshold. Most of these high-performing areas are located in Northern Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Denmark and the Czech Republic, where all regions have exceeded this target.
On the other hand, Italy records the most negative performance, with 7 out of the 10 regions with the lowest employment rate. Calabria (48.5%), Campania (49.4%) and Sicily (50.7%) are at the bottom of the ranking, followed by other areas in southwest Spain, southern Romania and eastern Greece.
Although Southern Europe is still lagging behind, many of its regions are experiencing rapid growth. For example, employment rates in some Greek regions have expanded significantly since 2021. The strong growth is largely due to the recovery of tourism and the hospitality industry after the COVID-19 pandemic, experts explain. “The hospitality sector, food services and retail have created over 50% of new jobs over the past four years,” they add.
In addition to the impact of tourism, Greece has also implemented labor market reforms that have had a positive impact. These include raising the minimum wage, reducing labor taxes, and creating a new legal framework that has encouraged the opening of new positions, especially for women and people aged 45–64.
Similar, albeit less pronounced, growth patterns have been observed in regions of Spain, Italy, Croatia and Portugal.
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