Eurostat: Romania had the lowest job vacancy rate in the EU in Q2

The job vacancy rate in Q2 of this year was 2.2% in the euro zone and 2.1% in the European Union, among the member states with the lowest  value in Romania, the data published by Eurostat on Monday show.The EU member states with the highest vacant job rate in Q2 were The Netherlands (4.2%), Belgium (3.9%) and Austria (3.4%).At the other end, the member states with the lowest vacant job rate were : Romania (0.6%), Spain and Poland (both with 0.8%) and Bulgaria (0.9%).Compared with the situation in the second quarter of last year, the job vacancy rate increased in five Member States, remained stable in three countries and decreased in 19 Member States, including Romania, from 0.7% in Q2 2024 to 0.6% in Q2 2025. In both the euro area and the European Union, the job vacancy rate fell in the second quarter of this year compared with the same period last year and compared with the previous quarter. Among the member states, the highest drops in job vacancy rate were in Greece (drop of 0.9%), Finland (0.7%), Germany and Austria (both with a decline of 0.6%). In exchange, the highest increases of the job vacancy rate were recorded in Cyprus (0.3%), Lithuania and Malta (both with an increase of 0.2%), Bulgaria and Estonia (both with a growth of 0.1%).As regards Romania, as the data published last month by the National Institute for Statistics show, the number of vacant job at national level was 31,300, in Q2 this year, dropping by 3,200 against the same period of last year.During the interval under analysis, the highest rates of vacant jobs were registered in production and supply of electricity, thermal energy, gas, hot water and air conditioning (1.63%), public administration (1.18%), show, cultural and entertainment activities (1.13%).Also, almost a fifth of total job vacancies were concentrated in manufacturing (5,900 vacancies). According to the quoted source, the budgetary sector had 21.5% of the total number of vacancies. Thus, 3,200 vacant places were in public administration, 2,600 in Health and Social Assistance and 900 in Education.At the other end, the job vacancy rate registeed the lowest values in extracting industry (0.19%), other services (0.20%), real estate tradings (0.23%). The fewest available jobs were in the same activities, namely real estate tradings (40 vacancies)followed by the extracting industry (90 vacancies)namely other services (10 vacancies).The INS data show that, compared to the first quarter of 2025, in Q2, the most relevant decreases in the job vacancy rate were recorded in professional, scientific and technical activities (-0.28 percentage points), public administration (-0.20%) and financial intermediation and insurance (-0.14%). In terms of the number of job vacancies, the sharpest decreases were in public administration (-600) and professional, scientific and technical activities (-400). On the other hand, important increases in the vacancy rate were in: water distribution; sanitation, waste management, remediation activities (+0.14%), respectively in Health and social work (+0.12%). In terms of number of job vacancies in Q2 vs Q1, the largest increases were observed in Health and Social work (+400), Construction (+200) and Water distribution; sanitation, waste management, remediation activities (+100).