Share of workforce newly employed in the European Union and Eurozone 2002-2022

The share of the workforce which is newly employed in their current job - that is, they have been in their current job for less than one year - is considered to be an indicator of labor demand from businesses. This indicator tends to follow the business cycles in the wider economy, with more employees being newly employed in times of economic upswing, while fewer people will be newly employed in downturns. In the European Union, the newly employed rate was 15.4 percent, while for the Eurozone it was 16.5 percent - a record high for the time period covered. Labor demand spiked in 2021 and 2022, as economies across Europe re-opened following the COVID-19-related shutdown in 2020.