REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on implementation of Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies
Date: 2025-09-12
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU Member State, EU statistics, application of EU law, data collection, disclosure of information, employment statistics, job vacancy

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 12.9.2025  COM(2025) 488 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on implementation of Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies  
 
 
1.  INTRODUCTION 

Job  vacancy  statistics  (JVS)  record  the  number  of  jobs  vacant  at  a  particular  moment, 
reflecting the unmet demand for labour. 

They therefore provide key information on possible gaps between labour supply and demand, 
including  labour  market  mismatches,  which  occur  when  the  skills  or  location  of  people 
seeking a job do not correspond to the expectations of possible employers. 

Eurostat  publishes  a  quarterly  news  release  on  its  website1,  with  a  large  set  of  JVS  data 
broken down by economic activity. 

Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and the Council of 23 April 2008 
on  quarterly  statistics  on  Community  job  vacancies2  (‘the  JVS  Regulation’)  establishes  a 
common framework for Member States to produce comparable data and transmit them to the 
Commission. 

Under Article 10 of the JVS Regulation, the Commission is required to report to the European 
Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  implementation  of  the  Regulation  by  24 June 2010  and 
every three years thereafter. The purpose of this report is to assess the quality both of statistics 
provided  by  Member  States  and  of  EU  aggregates.  Furthermore,  it  will  also  identify  areas 
where improvements could be made in the future. 

This  is  the  Commission’s  sixth  JVS  report  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council3.  It 
focuses on JVS  data received since the previous edition,  for the reference quarters from  the 
first  quarter  of  2022  (Q1-2022)  to  the  third  quarter  of  2024  (Q3-2024).  It  reflects  the 
observations  made  by  Eurostat  when  collecting  and  validating  JVS  data  for  these  reference 
quarters and builds on the documentation provided by Member States in their annual quality 
reports4. 

1 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-euro-indicators/w/3-16122024-bp 
2 OJ L 145, 4.6.2008, p. 234. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2008/453/oj/eng 
3 See previous report: COM(2022) 355 of 26 July 2022. 
  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022DC0355&qid=1738593721236,  
4 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/jvs_esms.htm 

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To  complement  the  general  framework  established  by  the  JVS  Regulation,  the  Commission 
adopted two implementing regulations: 

-  Commission Regulation (EC) No 1062/20085, which defines the seasonal  adjustment 
procedures to be applied from the first quarter of 2014, the structure and content of the 
annual  quality  reports  that  Member  States  are  to  supply  to  the  Commission,  and  the 
dates on which these reports are to be sent;  

-  Commission Regulation (EC) No 19/20096, which defines the term ‘job vacancy’, sets 
deadlines  for  sending  data  and  specifies  the  periods  to  be  covered  by  the  first  set  of 
data supplied. The  annex to  this legal  act  lists the Member States running feasibility 
studies and the subjects these studies cover. 

In Annex 2 to Regulation (EC) No 1062/2008, the quality of JVS data is determined using the 
following  criteria:  relevance,  accuracy,  timeliness  and  punctuality,  accessibility  and  clarity, 
comparability, and coherence. 

The accessibility and clarity of JVS data is now well established, through the publication of 
detailed  metadata  and  national  quality  reports  on  Eurostat’s  website.  This  JVS  report  will 
therefore focus on other criteria. 

2.  GENERAL PROGRESS SINCE THE LAST REPORT 

The above-described legal basis for JVS applies to the reference period covered by this report. 

In  2022,  the  Commission  carried  out  an  evaluation  and  impact  assessment  for  all  labour 
market statistics on businesses (LMB), including JVS. On this basis, the Commission made a 
proposal  to  replace the  Framework Regulation  that was adopted on 28 July  20237. The new 
Regulation (EU) 2025/941 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European Union 
labour market  statistics  on businesses,  repealing Council Regulation  (EC) No 530/1999 and 
Regulations (EC) No 450/2003 and (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council, was adopted on 7 May 20258. 

5 Commission Regulation (EC) No 1062/2008 of 28 October 2008 implementing Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 
of the European Parliament and of the  Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies,  as regards 
seasonal adjustment procedures and quality reports (OJ L 285, 29.10.2008, p. 3). 
6 Commission Regulation (EC) No 19/2009 of 13 January 2009 implementing Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of 
the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies, as regards the 
definition of job vacancy, the reference dates for data collection, data transmission specifications and feasibility 
studies (OJ L 9, 14.1.2009, p. 3). 
7 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52023PC0459. 
8 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202500941 

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The main developments that took place during the reference period were as follows: 

-  updating the euro area aggregate to reflect the inclusion of Croatia after its adoption of 

the euro on 1 January 2023; 

- 

including in the quarterly news release an analysis of the job vacancy rate by NACE 
section, for both euro area and EU aggregates; 

-  disseminating  the  quarterly  news  release  in  a  revised  format  featuring  interactive 

graphs;  

- 

expanding the scope of JVS, for France, to cover small enterprises with fewer than 10 
employees. 

In  the  next  sections,  we  comment  on  the  latest  developments  as  regards  the  scope,  data 
collection standards, data validation and seasonal adjustment. 

2.1 

Scope 

Under EU legislation, Member States are required to provide the number of job vacancies and 
of  occupied  posts  for  all  business  units  and  by  economic  activity,  for  each  section  of  the 
statistical classification9 of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2). 
However, for small  enterprises (defined as units  with  fewer than 10  employees)  and NACE 
Rev. 2 sections O-S10 (where the main activities are public administration, health services and 
education),  the  JVS  Regulation  states  that  any  Member  States  that  have  difficulties  in 
providing  data  should  conduct  feasibility  studies.  Although  these  feasibility  studies  have 
enabled some Member States to achieve full coverage of the economy, this is not yet the case 
for Denmark, France and Italy. 

Since  the  last  report,  France  has  started  transmitting  job  vacancy  data  for  all  sizes  of 
enterprise, including those with 1-9 employees. Back series have also been transmitted for the 
period starting from the second quarter of 2011 (Q2-2011) onwards. 

In  Denmark,  only  units  within  the  business  economy  (NACE  Rev. 2  sections  B  to  N)  are 
surveyed. In France and Italy, ‘Public administration and defence; compulsory social security’ 
(NACE Rev.  2 section O) is not surveyed, while public institutions are not fully covered in 
‘Education’ or ‘Human health and social work activities’ (NACE Rev. 2 sections P and Q). 

2.2 

Data collection standards 

9  Regulation  (EC)  No 1893/2006  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  20 December  2006 
establishing  the  statistical  classification  of  economic  activities  NACE  Revision  2  and  amending  Council 
Regulation  (EEC)  No 3037/90  as  well  as  certain  EC  Regulations  on  specific  statistical  domains  (OJ  L  393, 
30.12.2006, p. 1). OJ L 393, 30.12.2006, p. 1; ELI: https://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2006/1893/oj. 
10  Covering:  public  administration  and  defence,  compulsory  social  security  (section  O),  education  (section  P), 
human  health  and  social  work  activities  (section  Q),  arts,  entertainments  and  recreation  (section  R)  and  other 
service activities such as activities of membership organisations, repair of computers and personal and household 
goods, and other personal service activities (section S). 

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The latest version of the Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX)11 data structure and 
internationally  agreed  code  lists  (available  online  through  a  dedicated  registry)12  were  used 
successfully  to  receive  Member  State  data;  to  produce  the  JVS  and  to  transmit  them  to  the 
European Central Bank. 

2.3 

Data validation 

Eurostat  continued  carrying  out  plausibility  checks  on  each  quarterly  transmission  by 
comparing  series  over  time  and  across  NACE  economic  activities.  If  there  are  significant 
quarter-on-quarter  changes,  Eurostat  asks  Member  States  to  confirm  the  data  or  transmit  a 
corrected data file. If major revisions or sudden changes are detected in any particular NACE 
section, they are systematically followed up with the countries concerned. 

2.4 

Seasonal adjustment 

Under  Commission  Regulation  No 1062/2008,  all  EU  Member  States  and  other  European 
Economic  Area  (EEA)  countries13  are  also  expected  to  transmit  seasonally  adjusted  (SA) 
series with data on job vacancies and occupied posts at least for individual/aggregated NACE 
Rev. 2 sections B-E, F, G-I, J, K, L, M-N, O-Q and R-S. Eurostat uses the data supplied on 
seasonally adjusted job vacancies and occupied posts to calculate the seasonally adjusted job 
vacancy rates as a ratio. 

At  EU  and  euro  area  levels,  occupied  posts  and  job  vacancies  are  first  aggregated  across 
Member States and then seasonally adjusted (direct seasonal adjustment). 

Eurostat publishes SA data for EU aggregates in the relevant database14 and in the ‘Statistics 
Explained’ article on JVS15, alongside non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) data (see Section 4.5). 

Eurostat  continued  to  monitor  seasonal  adjustment  procedures  through  the  dedicated  annex 
attached  to  the  national  quality  reports.  This  annex  details  in  particular  the  seasonal 
adjustment models used, the outliers detected, the size of the adjustments, and the volatility of 
the results. 

11 https://sdmx.org/ (available only in English). 
12 https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/sdmxregistry/ (available only in English). 
13 Except Liechtenstein, as Regulation (EC) No 1062/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27                 
February 2003 does not apply to this country. Throughout the document, Norway and Iceland are referred to as 
‘other EEA countries’. 
14 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/jvs_q_nace2/default/table?lang=en&category=labour.jvs 
15 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Job_vacancy_statistics 

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2.5  Quality reports 

The  annual  quality  reports  were  generally  submitted  by  Member  States  on  time,  i.e.  by 
31 August 2024, using the latest version of the European Statistical System Metadata Handler 
tool. The reports were made available to all users16. 

3. 

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS THROUGH THE LENS OF JVS 

During  the  reference  period,  Eurostat  has  continued  to  provide  institutional  users  and  the 
general  public  with  JVS  and  derived  indicators  on  cyclical  and  structural  changes  in  EU 
labour markets. The latest developments are described in Sections 3.1 and 3.2 below. 

3.1 

Job vacancy cycle 

As shown in  the chart below,  JVS show a turning point in the  second quarter of 2022 (Q2-
2022) for both the EU and the euro area. This marked the beginning of a decline in the job 
vacancy rates following several quarters of consecutive increases. 

Job vacancy rates, whole economy
-not seasonally adjusted -

Euro area

EU

%

3

2

1

0

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

3.2 

Beveridge curve 

Besides being an important indicator for analysing business cycles, JVS provide information 
on the matching performance of labour markets through the ‘Beveridge curve’. 

The  figure  below  shows  the  EU  Beveridge  curve,  illustrating  the  negative  relationship 
between unemployment and job vacancies, i.e. as the number of job openings increases, the 
number of people unemployed decreases. Whereas movements along the Beveridge curve can 
be attributed to changes in labour market tightness, shifts of the curve may indicate changes in 
the matching  efficiency  between labour supply and labour demand,  i.e.  the ease with  which 
unemployed individuals  can  find employment. The job  vacancy rate  and  the unemployment 

16 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/jvs_esms.htm (available only in English). 

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rate  figures  used  to  construct  the  Beveridge  curves  below  are  four-quarter  averages  of 
quarterly data. 

Between  the  first  quarter  of  2021  (Q1-2021)  and  the  fourth  quarter  of  2022  (Q4-2022),  we 
observe a continuous increase in job vacancy rates along a steeper segment of the Beveridge 
curve. Since the turning point, job vacancy rates have been decreasing sharply in the EU, with 
no concurrent increases in the unemployment rates so far. 

During the reference period of this report, Eurostat updated the EU Beveridge curve twice per 
year and commented on the results in a Statistics Explained article17. This curve is provided 
below, up to the last quarter covered by this report (Q3-2024). 

17 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Job_vacancy_and_unemployment_rates_-    
_Beveridge_curve 

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Q3-2007​Q3-2008Q3-2010Q3-2011Q3-2012Q3-2013Q3-2014Q3-2016Q3-2017Q3-2018Q3-2019Q3-2020Q3-2021Q3-2022Q4-2006Q3-2023​Q3-20241.01.11.21.31.41.51.61.71.81.92.02.12.22.32.42.52.62.72.82.93.03.15.56.06.57.07.58.08.59.09.510.010.511.011.512.0Job vacancy rate (%)Unemployment rate (%)Beveridge curve in the EU, Q4-2006 to Q3-2024 (four-quarter average rates)Source:Eurostat (online data codes: jvs_q_nace2, lfsq_urgan)Source:Eurostat (online data codes: jvs_q_nace2, lfsq_urgan)Source:Eurostat (online data codes: jvs_q_nace2, lfsq_urgan)Source:Eurostat (online data codes: jvs_q_nace2, lfsq_urgan)Source:Eurostat (online data codes: jvs_q_nace2, lfsq_urgan)Source:Eurostat (online data codes: jvs_q_nace2, lfsq_urgan)Q3-2015 
 
 
4.  DATA QUALITY 

This  part  of  the  report  examines  all  quality  dimensions  in  European  statistics  on  job 
vacancies:  relevance,  accuracy,  timeliness  and  punctuality,  accessibility  and  clarity, 
comparability, and coherence. 

4.1 

Relevance 

JVS  are  important  for  economic  analysis,  as  they  are  the  main  data  source  that  measures 
unmet  labour  demand18.  Quarterly  JVS  data  are  used  by  the  Commission  (the  Directorate-
General  for  Employment,  Social  Affairs  and  Inclusion  and  the  Directorate-General  for 
Economic  and  Financial  Affairs)  and  the  European  Central  Bank  to  monitor  short-term 
developments in the business cycle and on the labour market. 

The  job  vacancy  rate  is  one  of  the  principal  European  economic  indicators19,  the  primary 
to  analyse  and  monitor  short-term  cyclical  economic 
source  of 
developments within the EU, the euro area and individual EU countries. 

information  used 

JVS  were  also  used  in  several  official  documents,  including  the  Commission’s  Joint 
Employment  Report  (2024)20  and  the  Commission’s  European  Economic  Forecast  (spring 
2023)21. 

4.2 

Accuracy 

As  an  indication  of  accuracy,  Member  States  calculate  the  coefficients  of  variation  in  the 
number of job vacancies (non-seasonally adjusted), taking into account the characteristics of 
their  national  sample  design.  The  coefficient  of  variation  expresses  the  standard  error  as  a 
percentage of the mean value being estimated. According to the quality reports for the 2023 
reference  year,  the  coefficients  of  variation  for  total  job  vacancies  were  below  15%  in  all 
Member States except for Ireland22. 

18 In situations where vacancy data are not available, unmet labour demand has in some cases been proxied in   
economic analysis by survey-based indicators, for instance of perceived labour shortages as reported by firms. 
19 Communication of the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on Eurozone statistics  
Towards improved methodologies for Eurozone statistics and indicators, COM(2002) 661 final. 
20 https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/93b9c730-8da5-11ee-8aa6-01aa75ed71a1/language-en 
21https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/publications/european-economic-forecast-spring-
2023_en#:~:text=The%20European%20economy%20continues%20to%20show%20resilience%20in,lifting%20t
he%20growth%20outlook%20for%202023%20and%202024 
22 JVS metadata: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/jvs_esms.htm. 

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The  response  rate  significantly  affects  the  accuracy  of  estimates.  According  to  the  quality 
reports  from  Member  States,  it  varied  from  14.7%  in  Germany23  (for  the  postal  survey 
conducted in the fourth quarter of 2023, Q4-2023) and between 21.1% and 32.7% for Greece 
(depending  on  the  quarters)  up  to  98.3%  in  Lithuania,  Denmark  and  98.7%  in  France.  In 
2023,  the  median  response  rate  across  Member  States  remained  high,  ranging  from  83%  to 
86% depending on the quarter. 

In terms of revisions, the situation differs for the two releases of the job vacancy rate, i.e. the 
flash  and  the  final  estimates. The  flash  estimates,  which  are  released  at  T+50  days,  may  be 
revised at T+78 days, when the final estimates are published. Although the flash data do not 
cover all Member States, revisions of the flash estimates did not exceed 0.1 percentage points 
for the euro area and the EU over the reference period of this report. 

As regards final estimates published at T+78 days, revisions can be measured by comparing 
the first transmission with the latest available release. For the euro area and the EU, revisions 
in the job vacancy rate never exceeded 0.1 percentage points over the reference period of this 
report,  except  for  the  first  and  second  quarters  of  2023  (Q1-2023  and  Q2-2023),  where 
revisions reached 0.2 percentage points. 

23 The job vacancy survey is not mandatory in Germany, which explains the low rate of response to the postal 
survey  run  every  fourth quarter  of  the year.  The  results  from  this  survey  are  re-weighted  using  administrative 
data, through generalised regression estimation, to correct for any bias due to non-response. 

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4.3 

Timeliness and punctuality 

All Member States are required to provide time series for the total number of vacancies and 
number of occupied posts in their country, starting from the first quarter of 2010. They should 
provide  the  data  no  more  than  70  days  after  the  end  of  the  quarter  (T+70).  In  addition, 
Member  States  with  an  overall  number  of  employees  exceeding  3%  of  the  EU  total  are 
required to send flash estimates no more than 45 days after the end of the quarter (T+45). 

The  timeliness  of  JVS  transmissions  was  generally  satisfactory  as  regards  both  the  flash 
estimate  and  the  final  publication.  Member  States  have  been  reminded  regularly  of  the 
importance  of  meeting  the  mandatory  deadlines  for  transmitting  data  on principal  European 
economic  indicators,  including  JVS.  Some  delays  were  occasionally  recorded  in  Ireland, 
Croatia,  Hungary  and  Luxembourg  (delays  of  one  day)  as  well  as  in  Greece,  Portugal  and 
Iceland (delays of two days). In the third quarter of 2022 (Q3-2022), Portugal transmitted its 
data too late for inclusion in the quarterly release. There were no structurally late deliveries 
that could impair the timely publication of European aggregates. 

4.4 

Accessibility and clarity 

JVS  are  disseminated  through  Eurostat’s  standard  distribution  channels,  namely  the  online 
database  and  the  ‘Statistics  Explained’  pages  on  Eurostat’s  website24.  The  website  provides 
timely information on the job vacancy rate for both the European aggregates and individual 
Member States, including charts on developments over time. As the job vacancy rate belongs 
to the principal European economic indicators, a news release is published every quarter25. 

Metadata  supplied  to  users  in  support  of  data  releases  have  been  updated  using  the  annual 
quality reports provided by Member States. These can be found on Eurostat’s website26. 

4.5 

Comparability and coherence 

There is no other harmonised source available at European level that measures unmet demand 
on  the  labour  market  which  could  be  used  for  comparing  with  JVS.  Many  Member  States 
count  vacancies  reported  to  public  employment  services,  but  it  is  problematic  to  use  these 
figures to assess the consistency of the JVS. This is because such data may suffer from under 
coverage (as not all vacancies may be reported to the public employment service) and/or over-
reporting  (if  any  filled  vacancies  still  remain  in  the  administrative  register).  Moreover,  JVS 
from administrative sources are based on national definitions, which differ from one country 
to another. 

24 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Job_vacancy_statistics and 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Job_vacancy_and_unemployment_rates_-    
_Beveridge_curve (available only in English). 
25 See the Release calendar for euro indicators (available only in English, French and German). 
26 See the JVS metadata and the EU and national quality reports: 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/jvs_esms.htm (available only in English). 

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The  number  of  occupied  posts,  which  is  the  denominator  of  the  job  vacancy  rate,  can  be 
compared  with  information  from  other  sources,  in  particular  the  number  of  employees 
reported in the EU labour force survey (EU-LFS). Comparisons and subsequent assessments 
of  differences  must  nevertheless  take  account  of  conceptual  and  survey-related  differences 
between sources.  In particular, JVS  are estimated from  a sample of businesses, whereas the 
EU-LFS is based on a sample of households. 

The  EU-LFS  data  were  extracted  for  the  reference  year  2023  according  to  the  country  of 
work,  rather  than  the  country  of  residence  that  is  used  for  most  LFS-based  statistics.  This 
extraction is more in line with the concept of occupied posts used in JVS as it excludes cross-
border commuters and other non-residents whose posts are not recorded in the latter. It could 
remove  the  negative  gap  measured  for  Luxembourg  explained  by  the  large  proportion  of 
cross-border work, which creates large discrepancies between EU-LFS and JVS concepts: the 
EU-LFS  surveys  resident  households  only,  even  those  working  abroad,  whereas  JVS  cover 
resident enterprises, including their non-resident (i.e. cross-border) workers. 

As shown in the figure below, the difference between the number of employees recorded in 
the  EU-LFS  and  the  number  of  occupied  posts  recorded  in  JVS  for  the  whole  economy 
generally remains within a range of between -15% and +15%, with the exceptions of Portugal 
(+16%) and Greece, Hungary and Romania (all above +20%). 

* Denmark: comparison for the aggregated NACE Rev. 2  sections B-N. 
**  France  and  Italy:  occupied  posts  are  not  recorded  for  section  O  and  recorded  only  very  partially  for  sections  P  and  Q.  Hence,  those 
sections have been omitted in this comparison with EU-LFS data. 

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-20%-15%-10%-5%0%5%10%15%20%25%30%SwitzerlandLatviaDenmark*CyprusFrance**LithuaniaItaly**NorwayGermanyCzechiaSwedenAustriaNetherlandsMaltaCroatiaFinlandSpainSloveniaIrelandLuxembourgBelgiumEstoniaSlovakiaPolandBulgariaPortugalGreeceHungaryRomaniaRelative difference between the number of employees (EU-LFS)and the number of occupied posts (JVS) 
 
 
 
 
In the case of Greece, the identified gap points to differences between both sources as regards 
methodology  and  definitions.  JVS  only  cover  businesses  with  three  or  more  employees. 
Moreover, some businesses might not be captured in the sampling frame because they started 
operating  after  the  business  register  had  been  updated,  leading  to  some  underestimation  of 
occupied posts. 

Hungary does not cover businesses with fewer than five employees in its JVS, which explains 
part of the gap recorded. 

In  its  quality  report27,  Romania  explained  that  discrepancies  between  the  EU-LFS  and  JVS 
regarding the number of occupied posts reflected the fact that occupied posts collected using 
JVS methods did not include the following: 

- 

individuals  whose  employment  contract  is  suspended  for  a  given  period  (on  the 
grounds of maternity leave, childcare leave, sick leave or unpaid leave, or because of 
some other type of absence); 

-  posts  which,  though  temporarily  suspended,  might  fall  vacant  and  be  occupied  for  a 

limited period of time;  

-  posts in armed forces or in the informal sector. 

Together with the responsible national authorities of the countries listed above, Eurostat will 
continue  monitoring  discrepancies  between  the  number  of  employees  recorded  by  the  EU-
LFS and the number of occupied posts recorded in JVS. 

It is also important that vacancies and posts on the payroll of temporary agencies are covered 
and assigned to section N of NACE Rev. 2. 

Finally,  the  main  challenge  as  regards  comparability  is  for  all  Member  States  to  cover  the 
entire economy in their JVS, i.e. to include small enterprises and NACE Rev. 2 sections O to 
S, including public institutions. Since the last progress report, France now covers enterprises 
with  fewer  than  10  employees.  However,  as  mentioned  in  Section  2.1,  data  for  Denmark, 
France and Italy are still not fully comparable with that of other Member States. 

5.  CONCLUSION 

Overall, the quality of the JVS of the Member States and of the EU aggregates has remained 
good. Over the past three years, the timeliness of JVS has continued to improve. 

The quality reports submitted by Member States were processed using the latest version of the 
European Statistical System Metadata Handler tool and made available to all users28. 

As  regards  seasonal  adjustment,  Eurostat  has  collected  detailed  methodological  information 
from Member States and released it as an annex to the annual quality reports. 

27 https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/estat/spe/metaconv/previewMetadataFile.htm?metadataFileId=36727 
28 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/jvs_esms.htm (available only in English). 

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Eurostat  has  continued  to  provide  institutional  users  and  the  general  public  with  JVS  and 
derived indicators on cyclical and structural changes in EU labour markets. In particular, JVS 
were able to capture the turning point that affected the business cycles of the euro area and the 
EU. 

The European aggregates were published as scheduled. In general, only very minor revisions 
have been recorded for the European aggregates, as regards both the flash and final estimates. 

To improve the comparability of JVS across countries further, it is important that all Member 
States  fully  cover  the  public  sector  (in  the  case  of  Denmark,  France  and  Italy).  Improved 
coverage  would  also  make  it  possible  to  publish  the  number  of  vacancies,  for  European 
aggregates, in addition to the job vacancy rate. Eurostat will continue to address this issue, in 
close cooperation with the countries concerned. 

The new regulation on EU labour market statistics on businesses will introduce the following 
improvements for JVS: 

-  eliminating  possible  biases  by  covering  all  economic  activities  and  business  sizes, 
including small enterprises with fewer than 10 employees, public institutions and the 
public sector; 

- 

- 

introducing precision targets for the number of vacancies and occupied posts;  

specifying in the legislation the statistical units used for collecting JVS data, limiting 
them to enterprises and local units. 

Eurostat will continue to monitor the compliance and quality of JVS at regular intervals, using 
the data delivered and other national documentation, including quality reports, and follow this 
up closely with the national statistical authorities responsible. 

The  new  Regulation  (EU)  2025//941  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on 
European Union labour market statistics on businesses, repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 
530/1999  and  Regulations  (EC)  No  450/2003  and  (EC)  No  453/2008  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council, was adopted on 7 May 202529. 

As the legal framework has been updated with the Regulation (EU) 2025/941 of the European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  European  Union  labour  market  statistics  on  businesses, 
adopted on 7 May 2025, this is the last report under the Regulation (EC) No 453/2008. 

29 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202500941 

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