Malta, along with Italy and Latvia, experienced the largest decrease in the job vacancy rate in the EU, Eurostat statistics show.
The job vacancy rate measures the proportion of total posts that are vacant, expressed as a percentage.
During the period when EU Member States were introducing COVID-19 measures, in the first quarter of 2020, the job vacancy rate in the euro area was 1.9%, down from 2.2% in the previous quarter, and from 2.3% in the first quarter of 2019.
The job vacancy rate in the EU was also 1.9% in the first quarter of 2020, down from 2.1% in the previous quarter, and from 2.3% in the first quarter of 2019. Within the industry and construction sector, in the euro area, the job vacancy rate in the first quarter of 2020 was 1.6% and 2% in services.
In the EU, the rate was 1.7% within the industry and construction sector, and 2% in services.
The highest job vacancy rates in the first quarter of 2020 were recorded in Czechia (5.7%), Belgium (3.2%), and Austria (2.9%). Whilst, the lowest rates were seen in Poland (0.6%), Italy, Ireland and Bulgaria (all 0.7%).
The job vacancy rate of countries for which data is registered, when compared with the same quarter of 2019, fell in 20 member states and remained stable in Spain, Cyprus. Luxembourg and Finland.
Italy, Latvia and Malta experienced the largest decreases (-1.1 percentage points in all of them).