Job vacancies, Q4 2013

In line with the decrease in the number of job vacancies, the percentage of job vacancies also decreased from 2.3 in the 4th quarter of 2012 to 2.0 in the 4th quarter of 2013. The percentage of job vacancies is measured as a percentage of the total number of jobs, i.e. the number of employees and vacancies.

Decrease in administrative and support service activities and domestic trade

A large part of the decrease in job vacancies was in the private sector. In administrative and support service activities, there was a decrease of 2 100 job vacancies from the 4th quarter of 2012 to the same quarter of 2013. Nevertheless, this industry had a higher percentage of job vacancies than the average of all industries combined. Domestic trade had a decrease of 1 500 job vacancies from the previous year. However, there was also a decrease of 1 200 job vacancies in public administration.

The percentage of real estate activities was reduced by more than half from 2.6 per cent in the 4th quarter of 2012 to 1.1 per cent in the same quarter in 2013. The decrease may be related to the cool-down in the property market during recent months.

Unchanged percentage of job vacancies in the EU

The EU had 1.4 per cent job vacancies in the 3rd quarter of 2013, unchanged from the same quarter in the previous year. The comparison with other countries is based on the 3rd quarter of 2013, as the figures for the 4th quarter of 2013 have not yet been published. The job vacancy rates between countries in the EEA vary considerably. In the 3rd quarter of 2013, the percentage of job vacancies was 0.4 in Poland, 1.2 in Sweden, 2.0 in Great Britain and 2.4 in Belgium. As a comparison, Norway had a job vacancy rate of 2.3 in this quarter. Agriculture, forestry and fishing are excluded from this international comparison.