This data package includes the underlying data to replicate the charts, tables, and calculations presented in Labor market tightness and inflation before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, PIIE Working Paper 24-23.

If you use the data, please cite as:

Bloesch, Justin. 2024. Labor market tightness and inflation before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. PIIE Working Paper 24-23. Washington: Peterson Institute for International Economics.

In 2024, there were approximately 10.5 million men employed on a part-time basis in the United States. This was an increase from the previous year, when there were ten million part-time employed men.

In the three months to February 2025, there were approximately 816,000 job vacancies in the UK, compared with 914,000 during the same period a year earlier. The number of job vacancies in the United Kingdom reached a record high of 1.3 million in the three months to May 2022, with the number of vacancies steadily falling since then. During the provided time period, the number of job vacancies fell to its lowest levels in the months leading to June 2020, at just 328,000, at the height of COVID-19 restrictions. Tight labor market beginning to loosen After weathering the economic storm of COVID-19, the UK labor market has been reasonably healthy since 2021. The unemployment rate, which reached 5.1 percent in late 2020, declined in the following months, to a post-pandemic low of 3.5 percent by August 2022. Since that point, however, the unemployment rate has crept up, and was 4.4 percent in November 2024. Resignations have also started to decline, after reaching a peak of 442,000 in the second quarter of 2022, there were just 181,000 in the third quarter of 2024. Which industries are experiencing staff shortages? The percentage of businesses reporting a staff shortage in the UK reached 15.7 percent in September 2022, before falling to just 9.7 percent by October 2023, another indication of a loosening labor market. According to data from that month, approximately 1 in 4 UK businesses in the accommodation and food services had a shortage of staff, the highest of any sector, followed by human health and social work at 18.4 percent, and manufacturing at 17.6 percent. Many of the recent struggles of Britain's National Health Service are directly related to staff shortages, with the public seeing a shortage of doctors and nurses, and overworked staff as some of the main problems facing the NHS.

This table provides information about labor supply and demand conditions in occupational labor markets in North Carolina’s eight regions (“Prosperity Zones”) and the statewide total.

A “Career Cluster” is a broad group of occupations. Each Career Cluster contains occupations that require similar knowledge and skills. A “Career Pathway” is a specific group of occupations falling under a broader “Career Cluster”. Specific occupations falling within a given Career Cluster, Career Pathway, and education level can be found on the Star Jobs table.

These data can be used to compare occupational labor markets within a given region. A low supply/demand rate indicates a “tight” labor market—with few jobseekers per job opening—while a high supply/demand rate indicates a “slack” labor market. A tight labor market presents opportunities for jobseekers, but can lead to challenges for employers looking to hire.

These data can also be used to assess the alignment between the labor market and our state’s talent pipeline. “Labor needed” is the amount of additional labor supply needed to attain the statewide or regional supply/demand rate. “Completers” is the average number of individuals completing higher education programs at the University of North Carolina system or the North Carolina Community College System.

Data are updated on an annual basis to accommodate methodology improvements and revisions to the underlying data inputs.

Technical details about methodology can be found here.

Data sources:

Labor supply: LEAD analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau (American Community Survey, 2014-2016 average)

Labor demand: LEAD analysis of data from the Conference Board^© and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014-2016 average)

Completers: LEAD analysis of data from the N.C. Common Follow-up System (2010-2015 average)

In 2024, about 74.86 million men were employed on a full-time basis in the United States. This was a decrease from the previous year when the total number of full-time employed men in the U.S. came to 75.5 million.

This table contains figures on the net turnover in the labor market for the narrow care and welfare sectors; this is an aggregate of all sectors in the care and welfare sector, excluding childcare. The figures are broken down by AZW branches, country, part of the country, province and RegioPlus labor market regions. The percentages shown are a three-year average, using the last Friday before Christmas as the reference date for each year. The calculations relate to employees' main jobs. The municipality of residence of the employee is used to determine the region. The AZW branches are determined on the basis of the main activity (SBI code) of the company where an employee works. This may not be the only activity a company engages in. The main activity 'Other social advice, community centers and cooperative bodies in the field of welfare' (SBI code: 88999) also takes into account the collective labor agreement under which the employee works. Employees who fall under Collective Labor Agreement codes 0004 to 0300 or Collective Labor Agreement codes 0302 to 8102 are classified under the 'Other Care and Welfare' sector. The employees who fall under a different CAO code are classified under 'Social Work (Other)'. A complete overview of all Collective Labor Agreement codes can be found in paragraph 3. This table does not broadly include figures on net turnover on the labor market for the care and welfare sectors (for a reference to these figures, see paragraph 3). If the sectors in care and welfare are narrow, this means that childcare is not presented because childcare is not considered to be part of the broad care and welfare labor market. As a result, the figures on net turnover in the care and welfare labor market broadly relate to a different population than the figures on care and welfare narrowly. Figures on different populations are not published in the same table. The figures on the labor market in care and welfare are presented in their own table. This table was developed in the context of the Labor Market, Care and Welfare (AZW) research programme. For more trends and developments in the field of the healthcare and welfare labor market, see azwstatline.cbs.nl (see section 3). Data available from: 2010/2012 three-year averages. Status of the figures: The figures in this table are provisional. Changes as of 23 May 2023: The table has been supplemented with the three-year average over the period 2020/2022. Figures for earlier periods have been adjusted to reflect the use of more recent sources. As of September 1, 2022, the RegioPlus-Arbeidsmarktregio Rijnstreek has changed its name: the new name is “Rijn Gouwe”. This name change has been put back in time in this table (2010/2012). As of March 24, 2022, the municipality of Weesp merged with the municipality of Amsterdam. This municipal reclassification has been implemented in this table from 2022 – and thus in figures for 2020/2022. This administrative change may affect developments in these regions. An overview of all municipal changes can be found in section 3. When will new figures be released? New figures are expected in mid-2024

This table contains figures on the net turnover in the labor market for the health and welfare sectors broadly; this is an aggregate of all sectors in the care and welfare sector. The percentages shown are a three-year average, using the last Friday before Christmas as the reference date for each year. The calculations relate to employees' main jobs. This table does not include figures on net turnover on the labor market for the narrow care and welfare sectors (for a reference to these figures, see section 3). If the sectors in care and welfare are narrow, this means that childcare is not presented because childcare is not considered to be part of the broad care and welfare labor market. As a result, the figures on net turnover in the care and welfare labor market broadly relate to a different population than the figures on care and welfare narrowly. Figures on different populations are not published in the same table. The figures on the labor market in care and welfare narrow are presented in their own table. This table was developed in the context of the Labor Market, Care and Welfare (AZW) research programme. For more trends and developments in the field of the healthcare and welfare labor market, see azwstatline.cbs.nl (see section 3). Data available from: 2010/2012 three-year averages to 2016/2018 three-year averages Status of the figures: The figures in this table are provisional. The data on 2010/2012 three-year averages up to and including 2016/2018 three-year averages are provisional. Since this table has been discontinued, the data is no longer finalized. Changes as of 28 May 2020: None, this table has been discontinued and has been replaced by the table 'Net turnover on the labor market; AZW (broad), region' (see section 3). When will new numbers come out? Not applicable anymore.

With the collapse of the U.S. housing market and the subsequent financial crisis on Wall Street in 2007 and 2008, economies across the globe began to enter into deep recessions. What had started out as a crisis centered on the United States quickly became global in nature, as it became apparent that not only had the economies of other advanced countries (grouped together as the G7) become intimately tied to the U.S. financial system, but that many of them had experienced housing and asset price bubbles similar to that in the U.S.. The United Kingdom had experienced a huge inflation of housing prices since the 1990s, while Eurozone members (such as Germany, France and Italy) had financial sectors which had become involved in reckless lending to economies on the periphery of the EU, such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Other countries, such as Japan, were hit heavily due their export-led growth models which suffered from the decline in international trade. Unemployment during the Great Recession As business and consumer confidence crashed, credit markets froze, and international trade contracted, the unemployment rate in the most advanced economies shot up. While four to five percent is generally considered to be a healthy unemployment rate, nearing full employment in the economy (when any remaining unemployment is not related to a lack of consumer demand), many of these countries experienced rates at least double that, with unemployment in the United States peaking at almost 10 percent in 2010. In large countries, unemployment rates of this level meant millions or tens of millions of people being out of work, which led to political pressures to stimulate economies and create jobs. By 2012, many of these countries were seeing declining unemployment rates, however, in France and Italy rates of joblessness continued to increase as the Euro crisis took hold. These countries suffered from having a monetary policy which was too tight for their economies (due to the ECB controlling interest rates) and fiscal policy which was constrained by EU debt rules. Left with the option of deregulating their labor markets and pursuing austerity policies, their unemployment rates remained over 10 percent well into the 2010s. Differences in labor markets The differences in unemployment rates at the peak of the crisis (2009-2010) reflect not only the differences in how economies were affected by the downturn, but also the differing labor market institutions and programs in the various countries. Countries with more 'liberalized' labor markets, such as the United States and United Kingdom experienced sharp jumps in their unemployment rate due to the ease at which employers can lay off workers in these countries. When the crisis subsided in these countries, however, their unemployment rates quickly began to drop below those of the other countries, due to their more dynamic labor markets which make it easier to hire workers when the economy is doing well. On the other hand, countries with more 'coordinated' labor market institutions, such as Germany and Japan, experiences lower rates of unemployment during the crisis, as programs such as short-time work, job sharing, and wage restraint agreements were used to keep workers in their jobs. While these countries are less likely to experience spikes in unemployment during crises, the highly regulated nature of their labor markets mean that they are slower to add jobs during periods of economic prosperity.

As of October 2024, there were approximately 12.97 million unemployed people in the European Union, of which 10.84 million were in countries in the Euro Area. During the provided time period, unemployment in the EU peaked in April 2013, when it reached 24.3 million people, with the most recent month having the fewest number of unemployed people.

Approximately 14.8 percent of people aged 16 to 24 were unemployed in the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2024, the highest of any age group in that month. During this time period, older age groups have had much lower unemployment rates than younger ones, who have consistently had the highest unemployment rate. For almost all the age groups, the peak in the unemployment rate was recorded in 2011 when almost a quarter of young working age people were unemployed. Young adults in the labor market In the provided time period, youth unemployment was at its lowest rate in the third quarter of 2022, when it was 10.3 percent. Since then, there has been a noticeable uptick in youth unemployment, which was 14.8 percent towards the end of 2024. A more long-term trend among this age group is the increase in economic inactivity, with 40.8 percent of 16 to 24-year-old's not in work or actively looking for work in 2024. Although students or people in training account for a high share of this economic inactivity, there has also been a rise in the proportion of young adults who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), which reached a ten-year-high of 13.2 percent in late 2024. Unemployment up from low baseline in late 2024 In 2022, the UK labor market, had very low levels of unemployment along with a record number of job vacancies. Throughout 2023 and 2024, this very tight labor market began to loosen, although is still quite low by historic standards. One indicator that has stood out since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, has been the number of people economically inactive due to being on long-term sick leave, which reached 2.82 million in the first quarter of 2024, and has been the main reason for economic inactivity in the UK since late 2021.

The political economy literature has put forward a multitude of hypotheses regarding the drivers of structural reforms, but few, if any, empirically robust findings have emerged thus far. To make progress, we draw a parallel with model uncertainty in the growth literature and provide a new version of the Bayesian averaging of maximum likelihood estimates (BAMLE) technique tailored to binary logit models. Relying on a new database of major past labor and product market reforms in advanced countries, we test a large set of variables for robust correlation with reform in each area. We find widespread support for the crisis-induce-reform hypothesis, as high unemployment and economic crises are robustly correlated to structural reforms. We also find evidence of reform convergence-that is, countries with tighter regulation are more prone to liberalize. Reforms are more likely when other countries also undertake them and when there is formal pressure to implement them. Other robust correlates are more specific to certain areas-for example, international pressure and political factors are most relevant for product market and job protection reforms, respectively.

This table contains figures on the inflow and outflow of employees in the care and welfare sector narrow; this is an aggregate of all sectors in the care and welfare sector, excluding childcare. The reference date of the figures is the last day of each quarter, with the exception of the 4th quarter. In the 4th quarter, the last Friday before Christmas is taken as the reference date. To determine inflow or outflow, the population in a quarter is compared with the population in the same quarter one year earlier. If the employee was not working in care and welfare on one of the two reference dates and was on the other, there is mobility. As a result, employees who do not work every month in care and welfare, such as employees with a flexible employment relationship or employees with a zero-hour contract, are more often regarded as mobile. The figures are classified according to the Standard Industrial Classification 2008 (SBI 2008) of Statistics Netherlands and broken down into AZW branches, country, part of the country, province and RegioPlus labor market regions. The calculations relate to employees' main jobs. The municipality of residence of the employee is used to determine the region. The AZW branches are determined on the basis of the main activity (SBI code) of the company where an employee works. This may not be the only activity a company engages in. The main activity 'Other social advice, community centers and cooperative bodies in the field of welfare' (SBI code: 88999) also takes into account the collective labor agreement under which the employee works. Employees who fall under Collective Labor Agreement codes 0004 to 0300 or Collective Labor Agreement codes 0302 to 8102 are classified under the 'Other Care and Welfare' sector. The employees who fall under a different CAO code are classified under 'Social Work (Other)'. A complete overview of all Collective Labor Agreement codes can be found in section 3. This table presents figures on flows on the labor market for the narrow care and welfare sectors. This means that figures on flows on the labor market for the care and welfare sectors are broadly not included (for a reference to these figures, see section 3). The narrow labor market for care and welfare means that the childcare sector is not included. As a result, the figures on flows in the care and welfare labor market narrowly relate to a different population than figures on care and welfare broadly. Figures on different populations are not published in the same table. The figures on the labor market in care and welfare are presented in their own table. This table was developed in the context of the Labor Market Care and Welfare (AZW) research programme. For more trends and developments in the field of the healthcare and welfare labor market, see azwstatline.cbs.nl (see section 3). Data available from: First quarter 2010 Status of the figures: All figures are provisional. Changes as of August 22, 2023: The table has been supplemented with figures for the 1st quarter of 2023. Earlier figures have been adjusted due to the use of new, more recent sources. Changes as of May 23, 2023: The table has been supplemented with figures for the 4th quarter of 2022. Earlier figures have been adjusted due to the use of new, more recent sources. Changes as of March 7, 2023: Due to an incorrect determination of the main job of labor mobile employees, a discrepancy has arisen in the development of employment as it can be calculated on the basis of labor mobility, and as it can be calculated on the basis of the comparison of numbers of employees. The bug has been fixed in this version of the table. Changes as of February 21, 2023: The table has been supplemented with figures for the 3rd quarter of 2022. Earlier figures have been adjusted due to the use of new, more recent sources. Improvements have been made in making employee jobs longitudinally consistent. As a result, job changes may no longer be regarded as such and/or separate jobs may be merged into one job. This improvement has an effect on the figures on labor mobility. Figures for previous years have also been (minimally) adjusted. Changes as of 17 November 2022: The table has been supplemented with figures for the 2nd quarter of 2022. Earlier figures have been adjusted due to the use of new, more recent sources. As of September 1, 2022, the RegioPlus-Arbeidsmarktregio Rijnstreek has changed its name: the new name is “Rijn Gouwe”. This name change has been put back in time in this table (Q1 2010). When will new numbers come out? This table is supplemented every quarter with new figures.

Revenue in the Temporary Employment Agency industry is anticipated to drop at a compound annual rate of 4% in the five years through 2024 to €236.5 billion. The COVID-19 outbreak meant key employers of temporary workers in the hospitality and tourist sector shut their doors, and companies froze hiring due to economic uncertainty - a sizeable blow to revenue in the three years through 2022. Workers on temporary contracts represented a significant chuck of employment losses in all quarters of 2020. According to Eurostat data, temporary employment declined across Europe in the four years from 2017 to 2020, dipping from 13.8% to 11.9%. Since COVID-19 has slowed, companies have resumed hiring as confidence levels have been restored and vacancy levels have soared. An increasingly tight labour market encourages employers to rely on temporary employment placement agencies to fight in an increasingly competitive market. Several countries rank highly in terms of temporary workers with a large short-term job market. In 2022, the Netherlands and Spain have more than 15% of employed people under temporary contracts, according to Eurostat. Industry revenue is expected to shrink by 1.6% in 2024. Revenue is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.5% in the five years through 2029 to €295.4 billion. With the labour market is likely to remain tight in many countries due to skill mismatches, employers will keep turning to placement agencies for their databases to track and identify the right candidates. Companies will lean on temporary hires as the economic outlook remains unclear and inflation keeps squeezing budgets. The automation of more routine jobs will be a threat to some long-standing temporary jobs. Across Europe, countries that traditionally rely on a strong network of short-term workers are implanting policies that may disrupt or expand services. Spain has already introduced reforms that are taking effect to increase permanent positions and remove temporary contracts, while Italy is expanding its voucher scheme to encourage temporary hires.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, approximately 271,000 job-to-job resignations took place in the United Kingdom, compared with 182,000 in the previous quarter. The number of resignations in Q2 2022 was the highest number taking place in a single quarter during this provided time period, reaching 446,000. In most years, there is a noticeable trend of resignations peaking in the fourth quarter of the year and being at their lowest in the first quarter. There is also a significant fall in people resigning from their jobs after the 2008 financial crisis and after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The Great Resignation The high number of resignations that took place after COVID-19 hit also occurred in the United States. Throughout 2022, approximately 50 million American workers quit their jobs in a trend dubbed 'The Great Resignation' In both the UK and U.S. the trend corresponded with a very tight labor market. After emerging from the initial COVID-19 lockdowns, UK unemployment declined from 2021 onwards, falling to a low of just 3.6 percent in August 2022. There were also numerous job vacancies, which peaked in May 2024 at 1.3 million, though by the end of 2024, both indicators have returned to more typical levels. Labor market concerns for 2025 One of the main concerns of the UK government regarding the labor market is economic inactivity, in particular the reason for this inactivity, Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people on long-term sick-leave, has increased substantially. At the start of 2020, there were approximately 2.12 million people economically inactive for this reason, with this increasing to almost 2.84 million by the end of 2023, with this declining only slightly to 2.77 million by the end of 2024. It is unclear if there is one overriding factor driving this surge, with possible causes including the prevalence of Long COVID, or the ongoing NHS crisis.

This dataset is associated with the dynamic report titled Number of recipients of labour market subsidy partly financed by municipalities and benefit expenditure, which is part of the Kelasto statistical database. The data are aggregated at the municipality level. The municipality providing funding is the unemployed person?s home municipality as of the payment date of the labour market subsidy, and the regional classification corresponds to the situation as of the month in which the costs are invoiced. Annual data are available starting from 2006, and monthly and cumulative data from 2015.

Starting from 2014, the municipality data are based on the situation in the month in which the costs are invoiced, i.e., the month following payment, which means that December payments in dissolved municipalities are included in the data for the successor municipality.

The classification (TYOMARKKINATUKIPAIVA_LUOKKA) used to indicate the final cumulative total for days on labour market subsidy during unemployment can receive the following values: 'Total', '300-499', '500-999' ja '1000'. A single person may have belonged to several classes in a given month, but data on recipient totals and benefit expenditures are derived from the dataset only once per month when the value ?Total? is used to narrow down the analysis.

The dataset only includes labour market subsidies for which municipalities have contributed funding. Labour market subsidies paid during participation in employment-promoting services or subsidies entirely funded by the state are not included. In 2006-2014 the municipalities financed 50% of the labour market subsidies paid during unemployment to recipients who had been paid labour market subsidy for at least 500 days of unemployment. At the beginning of 2015 the municipal funding was extended to cover recipients who have been paid labour market subsidy for at least 300 days of unemployment: For those who received labour market subsidy for 300 - 999 days, the municipality funding share is 50%, and for those having received it for 1,000 days or more, 70%.

A single person may have received labour market subsidy payments from several municipalities during a given month or year. This means that recipient totals for the whole country should not be derived from this dataset but from the corresponding dataset for the whole country.

Finland's employment rate has shown a steady upward trend over the past decade, reaching 73.6 percent in 2023. The employment rate increased steadily from around 68 percent in 2015 to 73.6 percent in 2023. Unemployment trends and gender disparities While employment rates have generally improved, unemployment remains a concern. In 2023, Finland reported 204,000 unemployed individuals, an increase of 14,000 from the previous year. The unemployment rate in Finland stood at 7.2 percent in 2023, down from its peak of 9.6 percent in 2015. Notably, a gender gap persists in unemployment, with men experiencing a 1.4 percent higher unemployment rate (7.9 percent) compared to women (6.5 percent) in 2023. Gender equality in the workforce In 2023, Finland demonstrated a unique aspect of its labor market, with women slightly outpacing men in employment rates. Women's employment rate stood at 74.1 percent, compared to 73.1 percent for men. This narrow gap highlights Finland's progress in workplace gender equality, with the country's female employment rate consistently surpassing the EU average. The employment rates across different age groups varied, with the highest rates observed among 45- to 54-year-olds and 35- to 44-year-olds.

This table contains figures on the characteristics of mobility within, to and from the labour market care and welfare narrow; this is an aggregation of all branches in care and welfare excluding childcare. The reference date of the figures is the last day of each quarter, with the exception of the 4th quarter. In the 4th quarter, the last Friday before Christmas is taken as the reference date. To determine the type of mobility, the population in a quarter is compared with the population in the same quarter one year earlier. If the employee was not working in care and well-being on one of the two reference dates and was on the other, there is mobility. As a result, employees who do not work in care and well-being every month, such as employees with a flexible employment relationship or employees with a zero-hour contract, are more often classified as mobile. The figures are classified according to the Standard Business Classification 2008 (SBI 2008) of Statistics Netherlands and broken down by ASBL branches, country, district, province, RegioPlus labour market regions and various types of mobility for both inflow and outflow. The calculations relate to the main jobs of employees. The region was determined on the basis of the employee's municipality of residence. The main activity (SBI code) of the company in which an employee works was used to determine the ASBL branches. This may not be the only activity a company undertakes. For the main activity ‘Other social advice, community houses and welfare cooperation bodies’ (SBI code: 88999) the collective agreement under which the employee is employed is also taken into account. Employees covered by collective labour agreements codes 0004 to 0300 or under collective labour agreements codes 0302 to 8102 are classified under branch ‘Other Care and Welfare’. Employees covered by another collective labour agreement code are classified under ‘Social Work (Other)’. A complete overview of all CLA codes can be found under Section 3. This table presents figures on labour market flows for the narrow care and welfare sectors. This means that figures on labour market flows for the care and welfare sectors are broadly excluded (for a reference to these figures see Section 3). The narrow labour market for care and welfare means that the childcare sector is not included. As a result, the figures on labour market flows of care and well-being relate narrowly to a different population than figures on care and well-being broadly. Figures on different populations are not published in the same table. The figures on the labour market in care and welfare are presented in a separate table. This table was developed as part of the Labour Market Care and Welfare (AZW) research programme. For more trends and developments in the labour market in care and welfare, see azwstatline.cbs.nl (see section 3).

Data available from: First quarter 2010

Status of figures: All figures are provisional. As long as the figures are provisional, there may be minimal differences. Both inflow and outflow are divided into different categories. The categorisation shall follow a hierarchy. An employee is always classified into only one category. In the case of inflows, the following order of precedence shall be maintained: returnees, side-entrancers and then others. In the case of outflows, the following order of precedence shall be maintained: outflow to a job in another sector outside AZW, benefit, self-employment, pension and others. For outflows to benefits and outflows to self-employed and information becomes available with delay. In that case, employees are first classified into the currently known categories. In a later update, employees are reclassified into the categories and the figures are adjusted.

Changes as of 21 May 2024: The table is supplemented by figures for Q4 2023. Previous figures have been revised as a result of the use of new, more recent sources. In a number of branches, series fluctuate due to administrative changes in the underlying source data.

When will there be new figures? This table is supplemented every quarter with new figures.

Revenue in the Temporary Employment Agency industry is anticipated to drop at a compound annual rate of 4% in the five years through 2024 to €236.5 billion. The COVID-19 outbreak meant key employers of temporary workers in the hospitality and tourist sector shut their doors, and companies froze hiring due to economic uncertainty - a sizeable blow to revenue in the three years through 2022. Workers on temporary contracts represented a significant chuck of employment losses in all quarters of 2020. According to Eurostat data, temporary employment declined across Europe in the four years from 2017 to 2020, dipping from 13.8% to 11.9%. Since COVID-19 has slowed, companies have resumed hiring as confidence levels have been restored and vacancy levels have soared. An increasingly tight labour market encourages employers to rely on temporary employment placement agencies to fight in an increasingly competitive market. Several countries rank highly in terms of temporary workers with a large short-term job market. In 2022, the Netherlands and Spain have more than 15% of employed people under temporary contracts, according to Eurostat. Industry revenue is expected to shrink by 1.6% in 2024. Revenue is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.5% in the five years through 2029 to €295.4 billion. With the labour market is likely to remain tight in many countries due to skill mismatches, employers will keep turning to placement agencies for their databases to track and identify the right candidates. Companies will lean on temporary hires as the economic outlook remains unclear and inflation keeps squeezing budgets. The automation of more routine jobs will be a threat to some long-standing temporary jobs. Across Europe, countries that traditionally rely on a strong network of short-term workers are implanting policies that may disrupt or expand services. Spain has already introduced reforms that are taking effect to increase permanent positions and remove temporary contracts, while Italy is expanding its voucher scheme to encourage temporary hires.

The Swedish income panel was originally set up in the beginning of the 90s to make studies of how immigrants assimilate in the Swedish labour market possible. It consists of large samples of foreign-born and Swedish-born persons. Income information from registers is added for nearly 40 years. In addition income information relating to spouses is also available as well as for a subset of mothers and fathers. This makes it possible to construct measures of household income based on a relatively narrow definition. However, starting in 1998 there is also more information making it possible to include children over 18 and their incomes in the family. By matching with some different additional registers information has been added for people who have been unemployed or involved in labour market programmes during the 90s, on causes of deaths for people who have deceased since 1978 and on recent arrived immigrants from various origins. It has turned out that the data-base is quite useful for analysing research-questions other than originally motivating construction of the panel. The panel has been used for cross country comparisons of immigrants in the labour market and to analyse income mobility for different breakdowns of the population, and analyses the development in cohort income. There have been analyses of social assistance receipt among immigrants as well as studies of intergeneration mobility of income, the labour market situation of young immigrants and the second generation of immigrants. On-going work includes evaluation of labour market training programmes and studies of early retirement among immigrants. Planned work includes studies of the economic transition from child to adulthood during the 80s and 90s as well as studies of how frequent immigrant children are subject to measures under the Social Service Act and the Care of Youth Persons Act. The potentials of the Swedish Income Panel can be understood if one compares it with better known income-panels in other countries. For example SWIP covers more years and has a larger sample than the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). On the other hand, the fact that information is obtained from registers only makes this Swedish panel less rich in variables. There are striking parallels between the Gothenburg Income Panel and the labour market panel at the Centre for Labour Market and Social Research in Aarhus for the Danish population.