(25 April 2017) – In 2016, the employment rate of the population aged 20 to 64 in the European Union stood at 71.1%, up compared with both 2015 (70.1%) and its previous peak recorded in 2008 (70.3%).
The upward trend in employment rate is visible both for men and women. For men, their employment rate hit 76.9% in 2016, an increase compared with 2015 (75.9%) but still below its 2008 level (77.8%). As for women, their employment rate has continuously risen since 2010 to reach 65.3% in 2016.
Compared with 2015, the employment rate for those aged 20 to 64 increased in 2016 in all Member States except Luxembourg where it remained nearly stable. It grew most strongly in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Spain, Lithuania and Malta.
Employment rates of men and women continued however to vary considerably in many Member States in 2016. The difference between the employment rate of women and that of men aged 20-64 was lowest in Lithuania (74.3% for women vs. 76.2% for men, or -1.9 percentage points), Latvia (-2.9 pp), Finland (-3.3 pp) and Sweden (-3.8 pp).
Similarly, the employment rate of persons aged 55 to 64 in the EU has grown steadily over the last years, from 38.4% in 2002 to 55.3% in 2016.