SMEs difficulty hiring staff Europe 2023

As of October 2023, the countries in Europe where small and medium-sized businesses self-reported the greatest difficulty in hiring staff with the correct skills for open positions in the past two years were all in south-east Europe and the Mediterranean. More than half of respondents in Greece and North Macedonia found finding qualified applicants very difficult, while a similarly high share was reported in Bulgaria, Malta, and Cyprus. On the other hand, nearly a third of respondents in the UK and Ireland responded that it was not difficult at all to find staff with adequate skills. Overall, in the European Union, over 60 percent of SMEs found it at least slightly difficult to hire the right staff over the past two years.

Share of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) indicating they faced difficulties in hiring staff with the correct skill-set over the past two years in Europe in 2023, by country

Characteristic	Very difficult	Slightly difficult	Not difficult at all	Not relevant	Don't know/no answer
Greece	56.6%	20.5%	6%	15.8%	1.1%
North Macedonia	53.2%	14.5%	9.5%	22.4%	0.5%
Bulgaria	49.7%	9.9%	2.7%	37.7%	0%
Malta	48.9%	22.1%	12.3%	14.3%	2.4%
Cyprus	46.3%	14.6%	8.4%	30%	0.6%
France	45%	22.4%	7.6%	24.9%	0%
Romania	44.9%	16.7%	4.3%	34.2%	0%
Belgium	43.4%	17.9%	11.9%	26.8%	0%
Croatia	43.2%	8.2%	6.6%	41.8%	0.1%
Spain	43.1%	23.4%	6.7%	26.8%	0.1%
Austria	40.1%	29.4%	17.7%	9.8%	3%
Slovakia	39.7%	16.3%	9.7%	34.4%	0%
Portugal	39.6%	22.1%	19.3%	17.6%	1.4%
Czechia	39.3%	14.5%	9.3%	36.9%	0%
Italy	39.3%	30%	11.5%	17.1%	2.1%
European Union	38.3%	23.9%	11.4%	25.5%	0.9%
Hungary	38.1%	15.5%	10.5%	35.3%	0.6%
Germany	36.8%	22.6%	19.5%	19.7%	1.3%
Switzerland	36.5%	27.9%	9%	26.6%	0%
Slovenia	35.9%	13.2%	9.4%	41.5%	0%
Ireland	32.2%	22.8%	22.3%	21%	1.6%
Norway	31.6%	18.7%	15.2%	34.5%	0%
Denmark	30.9%	20.4%	25.9%	22.2%	0.6%
Luxembourg	30%	26%	21.3%	21.4%	1.2%
Poland	29.9%	23.6%	14%	32.5%	0%
Turkey	28.9%	26%	25.2%	19.8%	0.1%
Lithuania	28.4%	30.4%	9.9%	31%	0.4%
Netherlands	27.6%	44.2%	11.8%	13.5%	2.9%
Iceland	26.6%	20.1%	29%	24.3%	0%
Latvia	25.6%	22.7%	7.8%	43%	0.9%
Finland	20.9%	27.8%	13.5%	37.2%	0.6%
Estonia	19.8%	15.4%	10.8%	52.9%	1.1%
UK	19.8%	22.7%	31.9%	18.4%	7.2%
Sweden	19.6%	19.7%	7.6%	52.8%	0.3%