Difficulty in finding talented workers for open positions Europe 2023-2024

Across Europe, many employers have reported difficulties in finding talented employees to fill open positions in recent years. Labor and skills shortages have been one of the most persistent economic topics in the continent during the 2020s, with the job vacancy rate rising sharply in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Germany was the European country where employers reported the most that they struggle to find talented candidates for positions in both 2023 and 2024. In Greece, Portugal, Ireland, France, and the UK, four out of every five employers said they cannot find skilled workers for positions in 2024. On average, the shortage of talented workers decreased globally from 77 to 75 percent, with larger declines seen in countries such as Belgium (six percent decline), Hungary (nine percent decline), and Finland (22 percent decline). Slovakia, on the other hand, saw an 11 percent increase compared with 2023.