site.bta12% of EU's Labour Potential of 27.1 Mln People Remains Underutilized in 2023

Nearly 27.1 million people in the EU between 15 and 74, representing about 12% of the extended labour force, have not been able to actively join the labor market, according to a Eurostat study. They were divided into four groups: permanently unemployed, those who were not actively looking for work, those who worked part-time and those seeking employment but who were not ready to join the labour market immediately.

In Bulgaria, people who did not actively participate in the labour market in 2023 made up 7.1% of the expanded labour force. This represents a decrease of 0.4 percentage points compared to 2022.

The labour market slack helps to understand how much labour is available but not fully productive. It is used to analyze employment dynamics and the overall health of an economy.

Unemployed people made up 5.8% of the extended labour force in the EU, while people willing to work but not looking for work accounted for 2.8% and part-time workers accounted for 2.5% from the expanded workforce, the data show. People looking for work but not immediately available were 0.9% of the expanded labour force.

Among EU countries, untapped potential in 2023 was highest in Spain at 20.2% of the expanded labour force, followed by Italy at 17.7%, Sweden at 16.4%, Greece at 16.3%.

At the other extreme, the share is lowest in Poland  (4.8%) of the extended labour force, Malta (5.2%), Hungary (6%), Czechia (6.4%) and Slovenia  (6.5%)
The data shows that in 24 EU countries the share of unemployment was the highest among the four groups mentioned above. In 2023, the highest share of the unemployed is observed in Spain (11.7% of the expanded labour force) and Greece (10.8%).

The exceptions are the Netherlands and Ireland, where the groups of employed people working part-time have the highest shares, at 5.1% and 4.5%, respectively. In Czechia, the share of people looking for work but not immediately available is the highest among all groups at 3.2%.