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.

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)

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.

Unemployment Rate in the United States increased to 4.30 percent in August from 4.20 percent in July of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United States Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

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 three months to July 2025, there were approximately 718,000 job vacancies in the UK, the fewest number of job vacancies since April 2021. 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 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 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. Figures on net turnover in the labor market for the care and welfare sectors are broadly not included in this table (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 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 (narrow), region' (see section 3). When will new numbers come out? Not applicable anymore.

Approximately 14.2 percent of people aged 16 to 24 were unemployed in the United Kingdom in the first quarter of 2025, 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.

London had the highest unemployment rate among regions of the United Kingdom in the second quarter of 2025 at *** percent, while for the UK as a whole, the unemployment rate was ****percent. Three other regions also had an unemployment rate higher than the national average, while Northern Ireland had the lowest unemployment rate in this time period, at ****percent. Labor market recovery after COVID-19 After reaching historically low levels of unemployment in 2019, there was a noticeable spike in the UK unemployment rate in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. After peaking at ****percent in late 2020, the unemployment rate declined throughout 2021 and 2022. High levels of job vacancies, resignations, and staff shortages in 2022, were all indicative of a very tight labor market that year, but all these measures have started to point in the direction of a slightly looser labor market. UK's regional economic divide While the North of England has some of the country’s largest cities, the sheer size and economic power of London is much larger than the UK's other urban agglomerations. Partly, due to the size of London, the United Kingdom is one of Europe’s most centralized counties, and there is a clear divide between the economic prospects of north and south England. In 2022, for example, the gross domestic product per head in London was ****** British pounds, far higher than the UK average of *******pounds, and significantly larger than North East England, the region with the lowest GDP per head at *******pounds.

In the second quarter of 2025, approximately 263,000 job resignations took place in the United Kingdom, compared with 220,000 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.

The Office Staffing and Temp Agencies industry has thrived by offering agile staffing solutions to corporate clients, despite a volatile economic environment. In the aftermath of labor market disruptions brought on by the pandemic, the economy bounced back quickly. Amid a tight labor market, businesses turned to temp agencies to help fill recruitment gaps, producing consecutive years of record growth. However, as inflationary concerns picked up and the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to slow private investment, trickling down to year-to-year declines for staffing agencies. Despite turbulence, industry revenue is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.9% over the past five years, totaling $260.1 billion in 2025. In 2025, industry revenue is forecast to rise 8.9%, with interest rates expected to temper further.The economy is grappling with a significant skills gap, especially in manufacturing, construction, IT and healthcare, with over half of workers lacking the necessary training for these crucial industries. This gap has created a disparity between employer demands and the skills available in the workforce. In a tight labor market, staffing agencies remain vital, providing businesses with a readily available pool of workers. Agencies are prioritizing workforce development by partnering with training providers and educational institutions to offer upskilling and reskilling programs, preparing workers for high-demand roles. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to transform recruitment by automating repetitive tasks, enabling agencies to deliver faster, more precise placements. As AI-driven tools become integral to the job market, agencies that stay ahead of the technology curve will be able to generate premium margins as overall profitability rises across the industry.In the coming years, staffing agencies will see growth as the economy expands, with workers rejoining the labor force turning to temp agencies to find temporary roles in hopes of securing a permanent position. Agencies will remain a permanent fixture in corporate strategies in the fast-growing healthcare sector, where temporary and travel nurses, medical coders and administrative support will be needed to meet the needs of an aging population. Consequently, industry revenue is expected to increase at a CAGR of 2.2% to reach $290.4 billion over the five years to 2030.

Employment Agencies Market Size And Forecast

Employment Agencies Market size was valued at USD 18.06 Billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 48.53 Billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 13.2 % during the forecast period 2024-2031.

Global Employment Agencies Market Drivers

The Employment Agencies Market is influenced by a variety of market drivers, which can significantly impact its growth and development. Some of the key drivers include:

Labor Market Dynamics: The overall health of the labor market, including employment rates, job vacancies, and talent shortages, drives demand for employment agencies. In tight labor markets, companies may rely more on agencies to fill positions quickly. Economic Conditions: Economic growth usually leads to increased hiring, encouraging businesses to use employment agencies for efficient recruitment processes. Conversely, during economic downturns, agencies may experience reduced demand.

Global Employment Agencies Market Restraints

The Employment Agencies Market, while offering various opportunities, also faces several market restraints that can impact its growth and effectiveness. Here are some of the key constraints:

Regulatory Challenges: Employment agencies must navigate a complex web of regulations, labor laws, and compliance requirements that can vary significantly by region. Noncompliance can lead to legal issues and fines. Economic Fluctuations: Economic downturns can lead to reduced hiring by companies, which directly affects the demand for employment agencies. In times of recession, businesses may rely more on internal hiring processes or cut back on staffing altogether.

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. Figures on net turnover in the labor market for the care and welfare sectors are broadly not included in this table (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 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 (narrow), region' (see section 3). When will new numbers come out? Not applicable anymore.

This statistic depicts the results of a 2018 survey in which U.S. convenience store retailers were asked about the leading business challenges they face. In that year, ** percent of respondents cited the tight labor market for the biggest challenge facing their business.

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.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The project was designed to identify changes in the employment relationship and contractual basis of employment over the 1980's and 1990's, and to examine their consequences for the future of work. The growth and distribution of numerical and functional flexibility, and their impact on employees and the self-employed, were examined. The project also explored changes in work expectations, organisational commitment and work pressure. Human resource practices and control regimes were examined alongside their impact upon work/family balance, work effort and levels of work strain. Contemporary accounts and explanations of the changing nature of work were assessed, in order to understand both continuity and discontinuity in employment relations. The project used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methodology. The quantitative survey and related documentation formed the original deposit, and sixteen qualitative interviews and related schedules were added for the second edition of the study. Main Topics: Quantitative data The quantitative dataset records the responses of workers aged 20-60 covering issues of work expectations and employment commitment; previous work history; second jobs; current main job details; organisation of work; information and communications; training, employability and career; benefits and working time; job satisfaction and organisational commitment; job security; personal and family details; prosperity, earnings and hours; employer details; discretion, responsibility and supervision; representation, pay fixing and rewards; type of business, clients, employees and motives; competition, risk assessment and start-up capital; work intensity; job security, perceived alternatives. Standard Measures Five- and seven-item Likert scales were used. Qualitative interview data The interview material is taken from the preliminary qualitative phase of the project, which was subsequently used to help devise new questions for the survey questionnaire. The interviews highlight a number of issues such as: The difficulty of recruiting and retaining employees in a buoyant labour market. Employers spoke of the difficulty of finding skilled (an not-so-skilled) workers in the context of tight labour market conditions. The growing internationalisation of recruitment, manifest in US-based companies opening branches in South East England, was another force for driving up salaries for skilled individuals. In this context, the possibility of relocating 'back office' operations to low wage developing countries was being pursued. The 'long hours' culture and the consequences for work-family balance. Employees spoke of the pressure to show 'face time' in their workplaces, a practice that was considered essential to display motivation within competitive, professional work environments. Young professionals spoke of the frustrations of working long hours on tedious tasks to meet deadlines and impress their superiors. Another notable factor was the advent of ICT (e.g. email, intranet, etc.). While one of the benefits included being able to work from home, an acknowledged cost was email overload and the pressure to deal with this outside of 'normal working hours'. Though the feminisation of the labour force was recognised, employers were making relatively little progress in providing family-friendly policies. The spread of team-based forms of work. Both employers and employees highlighted the spread of team-based work, especially for project-based tasks. These frequently meant that employees were members of more than one project team and moved between teams as new projects (and teams) emerged. This posed a challenge for managers, who still had to monitor their subordinate's performance, and to reward systems that focused on individuals rather than teams. Finally, legislative changes were seen to have contributed to the burden of change on managers and had constrained employers' policies. Purposive selection/case studies (qualitative interviews), multi-stage cluster sample (quantitative data). Face-to-face interview Self-completion 1999 2002 ADULTS ANXIETY BUSINESS ECONOMICS BUSINESSES CAPITAL CARE OF DEPENDANTS CARE OF THE DISABLED CARE OF THE ELDERLY CAREER DEVELOPMENT CHRONIC ILLNESS COMMUNICATIONS COMMUNICATIONS EQUI... COMMUTING CONDITIONS OF EMPLO... CUSTOMERS DECISION MAKING DOMESTIC RESPONSIBI... ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ECONOMIC COMPETITION EMPLOYEES EMPLOYERS EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT HISTORY FAMILIES FRINGE BENEFITS FULL TIME EMPLOYMENT GENDER Great Britain HOLIDAY LEAVE HOURS OF WORK INCENTIVES INFORMATION AND COM... JOB CHANGING JOB CHARACTERISTICS JOB EVALUATION JOB REQUIREMENTS JOB SATISFACTION JOB SECURITY LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LABOUR FORCE LABOUR MIGRATION Labour and employment MANAGERS MARITAL STATUS OCCUPATIONAL PENSIONS OCCUPATIONAL TRAINING PART TIME EMPLOYMENT PERFORMANCE PRIVATE PERSONAL PE... PROFESSIONAL PERSONNEL PROFIT SHARING PROMOTION JOB QUALIFICATIONS REDUNDANCY RESPONSIBILITY RETIREMENT REWARDS RISK SELF EMPLOYED SICK PAY SPOUSE S ECONOMIC A... SUBCONTRACTING SUBSIDIARY EMPLOYMENT SUPERVISION TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT TIME TRADE UNIONS TRAINING UNWAGED WORKERS WAGES WEALTH WORK ATTITUDE WORKING CONDITIONS WORKLOADS WORKPLACE

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.

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.

Finland's employment rate has shown a steady upward trend over the past decade, reaching 72.1 percent in 2024. 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.