In 2024, the EU’s employment rate was at a historical high of 75.8%, 2.2 points below the 78% target set by the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan for 2030. 

Almost half (46.5%) of all EU regions at level 2 of the nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 2) – 113 out of the 243 regions with available data – had reached or surpassed the EU’s 78% target (regions shown in shades of teal in the map). These 113 regions were found in clusters, with high concentrations in Czechia (all 8 regions), Denmark (all 5 regions), Germany (35 out of 38 regions), Ireland (all 3 regions), the Netherlands (all 12 regions), Slovakia (3 out of 4 regions) and Sweden (all 8 regions); this group included Estonia, Cyprus and Malta too. 

At the top end of the distribution, the regions with the highest employment rates in 2024, and the only regions to record rates of more than 85% were: 

  • the archipelago of Åland in Finland (86.4%)
  • Warszawski stołeczny, the Polish capital region (86.2%) 
  • Bratislavský kraj, the Slovak capital region (85.4%) 
  • Budapest, the Hungarian capital region (85.3%) 
  • Utrecht in the Netherlands (85.3%) 
  • Praha, the Czech capital region (85.1%). 

Source dataset: lfst_r_lfe2emprtn

Many of the regions with relatively low employment rates were rural, sparsely populated, or regions on the periphery of the EU. This pattern was particularly apparent in southern regions of Spain and Italy, much of Greece, some regions in Romania, and the outermost regions of France. 

Another group of regions characterised by relatively low employment rates are former industrial heartlands that have not adapted economically. Some of these have witnessed the negative impact of globalisation on traditional sectors of their economies (such as coal mining, steel or textiles manufacturing). Examples include a band of regions running from north-east France into the Région wallonne (Belgium). 

Approximately 1 in 4 (65 out of the 243 regions with available data) EU regions had an employment rate below 73.5% in 2024 (2 darkest shades of gold). This group included: 

  • 2 regions in southern Italy: Calabria (48.5%) and Campania (49.4%)
  • the island region of Sicilia, also in southern Italy (50.7%)
  • the capital region of Région de Bruxelles Capitale / Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest in Belgium (64.1%), Lazio in Italy (69.0%), Wien in Austria (70.6%) and Attiki in Greece (71.0%).

Would you like to know more about labour market statistics at the regional level? 

You can read more about labour market statistics in the Eurostat regional yearbook – 2025 edition, also available as a set of Statistics Explained articles, as well as in the labour market section of the interactive publication Regions in Europe and the Statistical Atlas.