Job vacancy statistics provide information on unmet labour demand. Information on job vacancies is used for business cycle analysis and assessing mismatches on labour markets.
A job vacancy is defined as a paid post that is newly created, unoccupied, or about to become vacant:
(a) for which the employer is taking active steps and is prepared to take further steps to find a suitable candidate from outside the enterprise concerned; and
(b) which the employer intends to fill either immediately or within a specific period of time.
A vacant post that is only open to internal candidates is not treated as a 'job vacancy'.
The job vacancy rate (JVR) measures the proportion of total posts that are vacant, according to the definition of job vacancy above, expressed as a percentage as follows:
Eurostat publishes quarterly and annual data on job vacancies. Quarterly data is intended for short-term business cycle analysis. Member States whose number of employees represents more than 3 % of the European Union total transmit the aggregate number of vacancies and occupied posts within 45 days after the end of the reference quarter. Data for all participating countries is available around 75 days after the end of the reference quarter. Quarterly data is broken down by economic activity and enterprise size. Since January 2010 the regulation on quarterly statistics is applicable.
Annual data is suited for more structural detailed analysis as they are, in addition, broken down by region and occupation. Data on annual job vacancies are collected on the basis of a gentlemen's agreement.
