European Job Mobility Bulletin

Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

TOP 5 JOBS IN EUROPE HIGHLIGHTS

1) Finance and sales associate A new information source: The European Job Mobility
professionals Bulletin is the first publication to describe the pattern of
12 300 Vacancies vacancies posted on EURES - the European Job Mobility
3 400 Vacancies Portal by national Public Employment Services. The por-
2 900 Vacancies
tal is up-dated daily. On 22nd of October 2010, the
2) Housekeeping and restau- EURES Portal offered almost one million job vacancies
rant services workers across 31 European countries.
12 200 Vacancies
10 800 Vacancies >> Read more on page 2
5 100 Vacancies Good news for jobseekers and EURES advisers - The
3) Electrical and electronic number of vacancies posted on the EURES Portal in au-
equipment mechanics and tumn 2010 is on the up.
fitters
14 100 Vacancies >> Read more on page 3
7 500 Vacancies Job opportunities right across Europe – for waiters and
1 300 Vacancies waitresses; cooks; receptionists and information clerks,
4) Shop salespersons and as well as shop salespersons and demonstrators.
demonstrators
6 700 Vacancies >> Read more on page 4
2 600 Vacancies High demand for skilled manual and non-manual occu-
2 200 Vacancies pations, but also considerable demand for lower skilled
5) Personal care and related services.
workers
>> Read more on page 6
12 200 Vacancies
1 600 Vacancies Special Focus in the first issue – the Czech Republic,
1 000 Vacancies Denmark and Sweden.
Based on figures of the EURES Job >> Read more on page 8
Mobility Portal (15 Nov 2010)

WHAT'S INSIDE EURES is a cooperation network of the Euro-

pean Commission and national Public Employ-
A new Information Source .......... 2 ment Services to promote free movement in
Current Trends in the Job Europe.
Vacancy Market .................... 3 A job opportunity away from home is just
Top 5 in Europe and in selected one click away: http://eures.europa.eu
countries ............................ 7
The European Job Mobility Bulletin is published quarterly by DG Employment,
Special focus: Job opportunities Social Affairs & Equal Opportunities of the European Commission
in the Czech Republic, It is a new publication within the Europe 2020 flagship initiative "An Agenda for
Denmark and Sweden ............. 8 New Skills and Jobs". It will be further refined, taking into account readers'
Conclusions ..........................14 feedback. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of
the Commission may be held responsible for the use that may be made of the
information contained in this publication.
Further information Comments are gratefully received and should be sent to:
DG EMPL D.3 | European Commission | B-1049 Bruxelles/Brussel
European Vacancy Monitor
Email: [email protected]
Quarterly Labour Market Review

1
European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

data. Disseminating the results of the analysis is

A new Information Source expected on a quarterly basis through two dif-
One of the main features of the European Union ferent publications – the European Vacancy
is its diversity. We can see this in the labour Monitor (EVM) and the European Job Mobility
markets. The situation varies not just across the Bulletin (EJMB).
countries of the EU, but the regions within the
member states are also very different. The European Vacancy Monitor puts data
scattered across a wide variety of sources
There are a number of reasons for this - the dif- into one single comprehensive picture.
ferent sorts of employment in the different eco-
nomic areas, the development outlook within The European Vacancy Monitor is generally
these economic areas, the job vacancies and the aimed at policy-makers in employment and edu-
skills profile of the different populations. How- cation (including vocational education and train-
ever, a problem common to all member states is ing). The European Job Mobility Bulletin is a
a more or less pronounced “labour market mis- guide for EURES advisers and jobseekers. By
match“. The mismatches reflect the difference aiming our publications at these different
between supply and demand for jobs, the exist- groups, we expect that both publications help to
ing skills of those willing and able to work, and promote labour mobility and to plan policy deci-
the needs of business. So, one possible way to sions in Europe.
deal with this is to encourage labour mobility Key sources of information are the Public Em-
between countries and regions. ployment Services (PES), the national statistical
One way to encourage labour mobility is to pro- offices, temporary work agencies, online re-
vide the public with regular up-to-date informa- cruitment services and research institutions.
tion on short-term trends on the European and Some information is also collected by interna-
national labour markets so that jobseekers know tional bodies like Eurostat, the Statistical Office
where the best employment possibilities are. of the European Communities, and Eurociett,
Given the increasing unemployment levels as the European Confederation of Private Employ-
well as labour shortages in some European coun- ment Agencies. Data on job vacancies, job find-
tries monitoring changes in European labour ers and hiring will provide insight into areas of
markets and producing accurate, up to date in- growth and those with recruitment difficulties
formation on employment trends, job vacancies reflecting a mismatch of skills needs and supply.
and related factors has become crucial as never
The European Job Mobility Bulletin focuses on
before. Once a jobseeker is equipped with this
recent changes in one particular part of the
information, he/she can make a better decision
European job market.
as how to benefit from the diversity of the
European jobs market. The European Job Mobility Bulletin presents the
results of the analysis of job vacancies regis-
To help facilitate this, under the ‘New Skills for tered by PES and channelled to the EURES Job
New Jobs Initiative’, the European Commission
Mobility Portal (http://eures.europa.eu). This
has launched the “Monitoring Labour Market
site is up-dated on a daily basis and provides
Developments in Europe” project. The general
real-time statistics of general interest. Anyone
idea of the project is to create a monitoring and
can use the on-line “search for a job” tool, and
information system, which will allow us to iden-
get a list of job vacancies at any one time.
tify trends in occupational and skills demand, However, the pattern of change on the vacancy
and could be used as an early warning tool for
market during any time period would be hardly
recognising labour shortages. At the heart of the
visible on the portal even if you check it regu-
project lies an analysis of job vacancies, using a
larly. Changes in the pattern of vacancies over
wide range of sources to produce the relevant

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European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

time are explained in the European Job Mobility ment Services to further improve the quality of
Bulletin. the EURES Job Mobility Portal. The more coun-
tries use the opportunity to transfer all their
We assume that a mobile jobseeker would like
nationally registered vacancies onto the EURES
to know more about the jobs available in a par-
Job Mobility Portal, the more in-depth analysis
ticular country before taking a decision about
will be possible. This can yield benefits for job-
changing the country where they work and live.
seekers and Public Employment Services. It
They would have questions such as how many
would allow to give out more information about
vacancies were recently announced, the specific
job opportunities in cross-border regions and to
occupations where there are vacancies, the
focus on job vacancies that are especially at-
business activity where demand for jobs is high,
tractive to mobile jobseekers. All this would
and which vacancies are difficult to fill. This
help to raise public awareness of the potential
kind of information, as well as some wider
of the EURES Job Mobility Portal including an
analysis on job vacancies, available on the
acknowledgement from both employers and job-
EURES Job Mobility Portal could be important for
seekers of the benefit they would get from using
the EURES advisers who are in daily contact with
this tool.
jobseekers.

Progressive improvement of the European Job Current Trends in the Job Vacancy
Mobility Bulletin Market
The “Monitoring Labour Market Developments in The EURES database covers only a segment of
Europe” project was started in summer 2010. the broader job vacancy market because it op-
Labour market information will be built up step erates with vacancies registered within national
by step. The European Commission is continu- PES.
ously working with the national Public Employ-
The size of this segment differs from country to

Chart 1. Development of the new vacancies posted on EURES from January 2007 to June 2010

250,000

200,000

150,000

100,000

50,000

0
01/2007

04/2007

07/2007

10/2007

01/2008

04/2008

07/2008

10/2008

01/2009

04/2009

07/2009

10/2009

01/2010

04/2010

The above chart shows how the number of new vacancies announced on EURES by the EU27 and EEA coun-
tries changed from January 2007 to June 2010. Source: EURES database

3
European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

country. Comparing the total number of vacan- probably, businesses tried to adapt by keeping
cies reported by Eurostat with the Job Vacancy hold of their staff through flexible or short-time
Survey, the number of vacancies covered by working arrangements and by optimising their
national PES varies from 30 % to 100 % share of use of staff through the re-distribution of work-
the national labour market. load. This would mean that less recruitment was
needed.
In the first issue of the European Job Mobility
Bulletin, we used the EURES database statistics Since end 2009 a turn-up can be observed
from January 2006 to June 2010, as well as the which is not yet very stable.
information taken from the EURES Job Mobility
Portal from 22nd to 25th of October 2010. The situation has changed in 2010. According to
the observations of the EURES Job Mobility Por-
According to the EURES database, from January tal between 22nd and 25th of October 2010,
2007 to July 2010, 5.8 million job vacancies all most vacancies were posted to the EURES portal
over Europe were advertised on the EURES por- by Austria, Germany, France, the Netherlands
tal. and the UK. Every day, hundreds of thousands of
job vacancies are advertised in these countries.
The evolution of the number of vacancies
posted on the EURES portal shows the impact Some positive changes during 2010 can be seen
of the economic crisis on the European labour in the Chart 2 which presents the evolution of
market. the EURES Job Vacancy Index (JV index) over the
last three years. This index is calculated by
As can be seen in Chart 1, in 2009 the number of
comparing the number of vacancies announced
monthly job vacancies in the EU fell signifi-
during a particular month with the monthly av-
cantly, and only started to rise again in 2010.
erage calculated for the period 2007-2009.
From 2008 to 2009, the monthly average of
newly posted job vacancies in the EU dropped The rise in new vacancies posted on the EURES
from 150 000 to 100 000. At the very beginning portal is a good sign for both job seekers and
of 2010 the situation improved. The number of EURES advisers. It appears that after summer
new vacancies announced on the EURES portal period, the number of jobs available is going up
almost reached the level before the crisis, all the time. In October alone, the number of
whereas it cannot be considered very stable. job vacancies went up by as much 150,000
reaching 950,000 by the end of the month.
For some countries the number of new job
announcements remained high even during Most demanded occupations in services
recession.
In the European labour market, there are cer-
Interestingly, changes in numbers of job an- tain job categories in demand on a permanent
nouncements varied greatly from country to basis. Europe-wide, this includes waiters and
country during the crisis as companies behaved waitresses, bartenders; cooks; helpers and
very differently. So from 2007-2009, the Czech cleaners in offices, hotels and other establish-
Republic, Denmark, Finland, Poland and the UK ments; receptionists and information clerks, as
ranked first in the EURES database. In contrast, well as shop salespersons and demonstrators.
Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal
These are all occupations with a high turnover
and Slovakia posted very few job vacancies
caused by temporary contracts and often unfa-
which might be partly an effect of the economic
vourable working conditions such as inconven-
recession.
ient working hours and relatively low wages.
It is also worth noting that in 2008-2009, the
According to the EURES Job Mobility Portal on
number of job vacancies posted by Austria,
22nd of October, despite of the end of summer
Germany and France was relatively low. Most

4
European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

holiday season, waiters and waitresses were in Before moving to another country, it is crucial
high demand in Belgium (1,100 open vacancies), to discuss the type of job contracts, experience
the United Kingdom (over 5,700 vacancies), and required and the salary that might be possible
Germany (4,900 vacancies) while France and the working abroad. For all the mentioned occupa-
Netherlands both had about 1,500 vacancies. tions above – with exception of cleaners – it
Cooks are also welcome everywhere. If one might be expected to have a good knowledge of
looks at the number of vacancies advertised, in the language of the chosen country.
theory the best chances of finding a job as a
cook would be in the UK (about 8,500 vacan- Job vacancies which are “hard to fill”
cies), Germany (over 5,200 vacancies) and It might seem surprising, but in several sectors
France (1,500 vacancies). Even smaller countries labour shortages became more and more evident
like the Czech Republic had over 400 vacancies, during the last two years. According to the
while Belgium had as many as 1,100 vacancies. EURES database, there are plenty of occupations
The number of vacancies for receptionists and for which a search for the right employee takes
information clerks is also in the thousands. more than a month. This sort of discrepancy
So if a jobseeker has the relevant skills and is between labour demand (the needs of busi-
ready to move to other countries, there are a nesses) and labour supply (a population with
lot of vacancies in the EU. relevant skills) is called a bottleneck.
A jobseeker can consult a EURES adviser to help Bottlenecks usually occur for the occupations
him take the best and the most carefully where there is a high demand, but sometimes
thought out decision. also in other situations.
The contact details of the EURES Advisers
can be found on the EURES portal
(http://eures.europa.eu).

Chart 2. EURES Job Vacancy Index calculated for a period January 2007 to June 2010

160
avrage for the period 20007-2009
Index as a percent of the montly

140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
01/2007

04/2007

07/2007

10/2007

01/2008

04/2008

07/2008

10/2008

01/2009

04/2009

07/2009

10/2009

01/2010

04/2010

The above chart shows the evolution of the EURES JV Index. It is calculated by comparing the number of
vacancies announced during a particular month with the monthly average calculated for the period 2007 to
2009. Source: EURES database.

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European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

According to the EURES database, at the end of Table 1. Occupational structure

the second quarter of 2010 the Top 5 ‘most dif-
Legislators, senior officials
ficult to fill’ occupations were (in descending
Skilled and managers
order):
non- Professionals
1. shop, stall and market salespersons; manual Technicians and associate
2. receptionists and information clerks; professionals
Low skilled Clerks
3. personal care and related workers; non- Service and shop and market
4. waiters, waitresses and bartenders; and fi- manual sales workers
nally Skilled agricultural and fishery
workers
5. door-to-door and telephone salespersons.
Skilled Craft and related trades work-
Beyond working conditions an explanation can manual ers
be seen in the impact of the crisis. It had a bad Plant and machine operators
effect not just on the purchasing power of the and assemblers
consumers but also on their confidence. This Elementary Elementary
period is a tough time for business. That is why
during the time of the crisis, and as we come
out of crisis, some jobs are difficult to fill like Chart 3. Distribution of job vacancies in
vacancies for shop, stall and market salesper- Europe by occupational structure, 2Q 2010
sons and demonstrators, technical and commer-
cial sales representatives and door-to-door sell-
skilled manual 29.8
ers.
At the same time, the ageing of the population skilled non-
27.7
manual
requires greater labour supply in health and
long-term care, nursing, and the care of elderly low skilled
25.3
non-manual
people generally. The increasing proportion of
women joining labour market has led to an in- elementary 17.2
crease in opportunities working in child care. So
it is not surprising that among job vacancies that 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
are hard to fill, there are vacancies for ‘per- Percentage of total number of posted vacancies
sonal care and related workers’.
The faster pace of life in urban areas, and the Source: EURES database.
vast amount of information which we now all
come across in our daily lives, means that more
and more people need some assistance when All in all, demand remains higher for the
dealing with all this information. They could get skilled.
such help from receptionists and information According to the EURES database, in the second
clerks, who are expected to provide information quarter of 2010, there was highest demand for
and make appointments for clients and patients skilled manual occupations (Chart 3, see also
for hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, dentists and table 1), but also a significant number of vacan-
others. cies for skilled and lower skilled non-manual
occupations.

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European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

Top 5 in Europe and in selected In the UK*, the Top 5 list is the following:
countries 1. Finance and sales associate professionals
(45,000 vacancies),
According to the data of the EURES Portal on
24th October (ISCO 3 digit), the Top 5 occupa- 2. Shop salespersons and demonstrators (41,300
tional groups most in demand in Europe are: vacancies),
1. Finance and sales associate professionals, 3. Personal care and related workers (18,000
vacancies),
2. Housekeeping and restaurant services work-
ers, 4. Housekeeping and restaurant services work-
ers (13,000 vacancies),
3. Shop sales persons and demonstrators,
5. Computing professionals (8,800 vacancies).
4. Personal care and related workers,
*) the data for the UK should be treated with
5. Electrical and electronic equipment mechan-
some caution as the numbers are partly too high
ics and fitters.
due to specifics of transcoding
For the larger countries the list of Top 5 occupa-
In the Netherlands, the national Top 5 is:
tions more or less corresponds to this pattern,
while a certain variety is normal, given different 1. Finance and sales associate professionals
national economies and labour markets. (2,800 vacancies),
Top 5 occupations in Austria (24th of October): 2. Physical and engineering science technicians
(2,700 vacancies),
1. Housekeeping and restaurant services work-
ers (12,000 vacancies), 3. Building finishers and related trade workers
(2,300 vacancies),
2. Shop salespersons and demonstrators (2,200
vacancies), 4. Electrical and electronic equipment mechan-
ics and fitters (1,200 vacancies),
3. Physics and engineering science technicians
(1,500 vacancies), 5. Personal care and related workers
(1,000 vacancies).
4. Finance and sales associate professionals
(1,000 vacancies), The list of Top 5 occupations for France looks as
the following:
5. Electrical and electronic equipment mechan-
ics and fitters (1,000 vacancies). 1. Housekeeping and restaurant services work-
ers (2,900 vacancies),
In neighbouring Germany, however, the Top 5
list is slightly different: 2. Finance and sales associate professionals
(2,900 vacancies),
1. Building finishers and related trades workers
(17,000 vacancies), 3. Shop sales persons and demonstrators (1,700
vacancies),
2. Electrical and electronic equipment mechan-
ics and fitters (13,800 vacancies), 4. Physical and engineering science technicians
(1,500 vacancies),
3. Personal care workers (12,400 vacancies),
5. Building finishers and related trade workers
4. Finance and sales associate professionals
(1,300 vacancies).
(11,900 vacancies),
5. Housekeeping and restaurant services work-
ers (11,000 vacancies),

7
European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

Chart 4. Development of new vacancies posted on EURES by the Czech Republic

from January 2006 to June 2010

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0
01/2006

07/2006

01/2007

07/2007

01/2008

07/2008

01/2009

07/2009

01/2010
The above chart shows that even in the crisis a considerable number of vacancies were posted on EURES by
the Czech Republic. Source: EURES database.

ƒ The variety of contracts offered (EURES da-

Special focus: Job opportunities in tabase data from the second quarter of
the Czech Republic, Denmark and 2010),
Sweden ƒ The Top 5 list of the most demanded occupa-
The section gives some useful detailed informa- tions (EURES Job Mobility Portal on 22nd of
tion about job vacancy developments in the October 2010, ISCO 3-digit),
Czech Republic, Denmark and Sweden. These ƒ Trends of the Top 5 for the last four years
countries were chosen because together with (EURES database, ISCO 4-digit),
Ireland, Slovenia and Finland they belong to the
group of six countries whose national Public Em- ƒ The regional distribution of job vacancies
ployment Services transfer all their data on job first notified 22nd of October 2010,
vacancies onto the European Job Mobility Portal. ƒ Labour shortages (based on the EURES data-
They share this information with everyone in base data of the second quarter of 2010).
Europe, and provide all Europeans with an op-
portunity for a wider job search. 1. Job opportunities in the Czech Republic
In this section, we have information for each of On 22nd of October 2010, over 24,000 jobs va-
these countries on: cancies posted on EURES were available in the
ƒ The number of vacancies posted monthly Czech Republic.
onto the EURES Job Mobility Portal and their It is worth knowing that there is no Job Vacancy
occupational distribution (based on data survey in the Czech Republic. Job Vacancy sta-
from the EURES database), tistics are solely based on the administrative
data provided by the national PES. Due to com-

8
European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

Table 2. Top 5 Czech vacancies posted onto the EURES portal in The majority of vacancies
October 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 (ISCO 3 digit) are for full-time permanent
contracts. This can be a
2006 2007 2008 2009 decisive factor for those
1st Building Building Building Finance and who would like to move
frame and frame and frame and sales associate abroad but are still nervous
related trades related trades related trades professionals of the risks involved in tak-
workers workers workers ing on a temporary job.
2nd Blacksmiths, Assemblers Blacksmiths, Building frame The most recent Top 5 oc-
tool-makers tool-makers and related cupations in the Czech Re-
and related and related trades workers public are the following:
trades work- trades work-
ers ers 1. Finance and sales asso-
ciate professionals,
3rd Motor-vehicle Blacksmiths, Assemblers Housekeeping 1,000,
drivers tool-makers and restaurant
and related services work- 2. Physical and engineering
trades work- ers science technicians 900,
ers
3. Housekeeping and res-
4th Metal mould- Motor-vehicle Metal mould- Motor vehicle taurant services work-
ers, welders, drivers ers, welders, drivers ers, 900,
sheet-metal sheet-metal
workers workers 4. Motor –vehicle drivers,
600,
5th Assemblers Manufacturing Motor-vehicle Physical and
labourers drivers engineering 5. Building frame and re-
science techni- lated trades workers,
cians 400.
On 22 October, the number
of vacancies for sales repre-
pulsory registration of vacancies the PES is sup-
sentatives exceeded 1,000. Job vacancies for
posed to cover 100 per cent of the national va-
physical and engineering science technicians
cancy market.
stood at about 900, almost evenly distributed
As can be seen in the Chart 4, during the last among the different regions of the Czech Repub-
three years, the Czech Republic saw significant lic. This is not typical as in general, the majority
demand for labour. Although the number of new of vacancies are concentrated in Prague, the
job vacancies posted monthly onto the EURES capital, and the Central Bohemian region around
Job Mobility Portal dropped at the end of 2008 Prague, thanks to its attractive strategic loca-
by 50 per cent, it was still high during 2009. Up tion for foreign investors and strong provision of
to 10,000 vacancies per month were posted onto services, primarily in the tourist sector.
the EURES Portal.
The EURES database provides an opportunity to
The EURES database shows that skilled non- look back on the job vacancies posted onto the
manual and skilled manual jobs were almost EURES Job Mobility Portal starting from January
equally in demand (making together over 70 % of 2006. It also allows identifying changes in the
all job vacancies posted on the EURES Job Mobil- Top 5 list for the Czech Republic (Table 2).
ity Portal). As a consequence the demand for
Obviously, the crisis had an effect: the previous
less skilled or unskilled jobs is low.
demand for metal, machinery and related trade

9
European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

Chart 5. Change of number of vacancies posted on the EURES Portal per month by Denmark
from January 2006 to June 2010

30,000

25,000
20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0
01/2006

07/2006

01/2007

07/2007

01/2008

07/2008

01/2009

07/2009

01/2010
The above chart shows the development of the monthly number of new vacancies posted on EURES by
Denmark. Source: EURES database.

workers decreased significantly. However, there the number of commuters from Sweden and
is continued demand for labour in the construc- Germany in particular grew strongly. Meanwhile,
tion sector and for motor-vehicle (heavy truck the economic crisis has led to a rise in unem-
and lorry) drivers. In times of crisis, finance and ployment, which reached 7% in September 2010.
sales professionals are in greater demand.
The evolution of the number of vacancies posted
According to the EURES database, for a number
of occupations employers have recruitment dif-
Chart 6. Distribution of vacancies by occu-
ficulties. So, workers qualified in these areas
pational structure in Denmark, 2Q 2010
who have lost their job in their own country
could check out an option to move to the Czech 40
Percentage of total number of vacancies

Republic. 35
39 %

The highest labour shortage (occupations with 30

vacancies open for longer than a month) identi- 25
26 %
fied at the end of the second quarter of 2010 in 20
21 %
the Czech Republic was for rubber-products ma- 15
chine operators, electrical mechanics and fitters 10
15 %

as well as for plumbers and pipe fitters. 5

2. Vacancy market in Denmark 0

skilled non- low skilled skilled elementary
In recent years, Denmark has been among the manual non-manual manual
ten most competitive countries in the world.
Source: EURES database.
Up until 2008, Denmark was well-known for high
employment and very low unemployment, and

10
European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

on the EURES portal (Chart 4) clearly reflects The country is a service and knowledge society.
the drop in labour demand in the second half of Obviously, the service sector has more demand
2008 and the beginning of recovery in 2010; in for labour. A review of the job vacancies posted
the meantime it also shows that every month onto the EURES Job Mobility Portal in 2006–2009
more than 10,000 new vacancies were regis- shows that this has been the case for the last
tered within the Public Employment Services four years. According to the EURES database,
and posted onto the EURES portal. the Top 5 list did not change a lot over the last
five years (Table 3).
Although according to the data of the EURES
database, the skilled non-manual jobs are the For those jobseekers who would be interested in
most in demand, the variety of job vacancies getting employment in pre-primary education
posted onto the EURES Job Mobility Portal institutions (kindergartens and nurseries) in
(Chart 6) would indicate that even a low-skilled Denmark, we would recommend to find out
person might get a job there. whether this occupation is in the list of the
regulated professions, and whether there are
The list of Top 5 occupations in Denmark is
special requirements for these jobs in Denmark.
rather volatile and heavily influenced by sea-
sonal demand for certain jobs. As an example,
at the end of June 2010 the two top positions of
the list were shared by
“food processing and re- Table 3. Top 5 vacancies posted by Denmark onto the EURES portal
lated trades workers” (up to in October 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009
1,000 vacancies) and “phi-
2006 2007 2008 2009
lologists, translators and
interpreters” (over 500 va- Food proc- Personal care Food process- Food process-
1st
cancies posted on EURES). essing and related ing and re- ing and re-
and related workers lated trades lated trades
However, by the end of Oc-
trades workers workers
tober, these vacancies did
workers
not exist anymore.
Personal Domestic and Personal care Personal care
According to the data on 2nd
care and related help- and related and related
the EURES Job Mobility Por- related ers, cleaners workers workers
tal, the Top 5 job vacancies workers and launder-
in Denmark are: ers
Housekeep- Housekeep- Shop sales- Pre-primary
1. Housekeeping and res- 3rd
ing and res- persons and education
ing and res-
taurant services work- taurant ser- demonstrators teaching as-
taurant ser-
ers, 400, vices work- vices workers sociate pro-
2. Personal care and re- ers fessionals
lated workers, 350, 4th
Domestic Shop sales- Nursing and Housekeep-
and related persons and midwifery ing and res-
3. Shop salespersons and helpers, demonstrators associate taurant ser-
demonstrators, 300 cleaners and professionals vices workers
4. Domestic and related launderers
helpers, cleaners and Street ven- Food process- Pre-primary Nursing and
5th
launderers, 250, dors and ing and re- education midwifery
related lated trades teaching as- associate
5. Pre-primary education workers workers sociate pro- professionals
teaching associate pro- fessionals
fessionals, 200.

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European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

According to the EURES database, the significant the second quarter of 2010 in Denmark was for
labour shortage (up to 1,000 vacancies open for helpers and cleaners in offices, hotels and other
longer than for a month) identified at the end of establishments, transport labourers and freight
handlers as well as shop, stall and market
salespersons.
Chart 7. Distribution of job vacancies by
occupational structure in Sweden, 2Q 2010 As it says on the EURES Job Mobility Portal
“Denmark. Short overview of the labour mar-
ket”, in the coming years the public sector in
50
50 % particular will be characterised by a shortage of
Percentage of total number of vacancies

40 qualified workers, such as health workers and

care workers in the eldercare sector. In addi-
30 tion, there will be a need for well-qualified spe-
cialists in the private sector, including in the
20 23 % areas of IT and biotechnology / pharmaceuti-
cals.
10 13 % 14 %
3. Job opportunities in Sweden
0 Employment growth has been strong in the
skilled low skilled skilled elementary Swedish labour market in recent years, but the
non- non- manual weakening economy has meant fewer jobs and
manual manual rising unemployment (8 % in September 2010).
Industry is being hardest hit by the fall in em-
ployment.
Source: EURES database.

Chart 8. Development of new vacancies posted on the EURES Portal by Sweden from January
2008 to June 2010

80,000
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
01/2008

07/2008

01/2009

07/2009

01/2010

The above chart shows that the number of new vacancies posted onto the EURES Portal fully reflects dete-
riorating of Swedish economy in 2009. Source: EURES database.

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European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

Table 4. Top 5 vacancies posted by Sweden onto the EURES portal The majority of vacancies
in October 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 are concentrated in Stock-
holm, the capital, and the
2006 2007 2008 2009 Västa Gotäland, which is in
Metal Building Finance and Personal care the south-west. So, before
1st taking the decision to move,
moulders, frame and sales associ- and related
welders, related ate profes- workers every jobseeker is recom-
sheet-metal trades work- sionals mended either to check the
workers ers EURES Job Mobility Portal
Computer Housekeeping Street ven- Finance and independently, or to talk to
2nd
associate and restau- dors and re- sales associate the nearest EURES adviser
professionals rant services lated workers professionals to find out about the exact
workers location of the vacancy that
3rd
Electrical Forestry and Shop sales- Shop salesper- is of interest.
and elec- related persons and sons and dem-
tronic workers demonstrators onstrators As far as the occupational
equipment structure of vacancies is
mechanics concerned, most jobs ad-
and fitters vertised in Sweden (accord-
Nursing and Computing Housekeeping Housekeeping ing to data of the EURES
4th database as of the second
midwifery professionals and restau- and restaurant
associate rant services services work- quarter of 2010) require
professionals workers ers higher education. However,
Building fin- Architects, Computing Street vendors this is not automatically
5th
ishers and engineers professionals and related reflected in the TOP 5 list.
related and related workers
trades work- professionals According to the EURES da-
ers tabase, permanent full-time
contracts are much more
frequent in the sorts of jobs
offered. 82 % of job offers are permanent full-
According to the data on the EURES database, time, the rest are temporary full-time con-
during the last three years the number of new tracts. The Top 5 occupations in Sweden on
vacancies posted on the EURES portal by Sweden 22nd of October were:
has been neither very stable nor high (Chart 8),
1. Finance and sales associate professionals,
but in 2010 the situation improved. 2,000,
Comparing the number of vacancies opened at 2. Computing professionals, 1, 700,
the end of the second quarter of 2010 by the
EURES database with the number of vacancies 3. Personal care and related workers, 800,
reported by Eurostat (Job vacancy survey) we 4. Housekeeping and restaurant services work-
could assume that the national Public Employ- ers, 800,
ment service shares 62 % of the national vacancy
market. 5. Shop salespersons and demonstrators, 800.
At the end of October 2010, 30,000 vacancies The list of the Top 5 occupations changed
posted onto the EURES Job Mobility Portal by somewhat during the last four years. While
Swedish Public Employment Services were wait- there is continued demand for IT staff, finance
ing to be filled in by a successful candidate. and sales professionals have taken the leading

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European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

Chart 9. Occupational demand in Europe, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Sweden, 2Q 2010

EU

SE

DK

CZ

0 20 40 60 80 100

skilled non-manual low skilled non-manual skilled manual elementary

Source: EURES database.

position and the services sector has seen more ers, medical doctors, nursing and midwifery pro-
demand for labour. fessionals, and artistic, entertainment and
sports associate professionals.
According to the EURES database, the labour
shortage (vacancies open for longer than a
month) identified at the end of the second quar-
Conclusions
ter of 2010 in Sweden, was for transport labour- There are interesting differences and similarities
in the job vacancy situation in
Table 5. Top 5 Occupations in October 2010 for three selected
the countries we analysed in
countries
this Special Focus for the first
Czech Republic Denmark Sweden issue of the EJMB.
Finance and sales Housekeeping and Finance and sales The table of the Top 5 Occupa-
associate profes- restaurant services associate profes- tions for the three selected
sionals workers sionals countries clearly shows, as one
Physical and engi- Personal care and Computing profes- would expect, that there are
neering science related workers sional similarities between Denmark
technicians and Sweden: labour demand in
Housekeeping and Shop salespersons and Personal care and the service sector is prominent,
restaurant services demonstrators related workers while for the Czech Republic
workers the Top 5 occupations are more
Motor-vehicle driv- Domestic and related Housekeeping and country-specific and shows con-
ers helpers, cleaners and restaurant services tinued demand in the construc-
launderers workers tion sector, as well as job op-
Building frame and Pre-primary education Shop salespersons portunities for electrical and
related trades teaching associate and demonstrators electronic equipment mechan-
workers professionals ics.
Source: EURES Job Mobility Portal (24 October 2010)

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European Job Mobility Bulletin
Issue no. 1/2010|November 2010

The distribution of job vacancies by type of con-

tract was not similar. Permanent full-time con-
tracts were much more frequent in the Czech
Republic and Sweden, much less in Denmark.
This is what one would expect given the charac-
teristics of the labour force in these countries.
Occupational demand in the selected countries
differs from the pattern in the rest of Europe.
These countries are mostly looking for skilled
non-manual jobs. Higher education qualifica-
tions are much more expected in Sweden; and
slightly less in the Czech Republic and Denmark.
Above all in the Czech Republic demand is
rather high for skilled manual workers.
While there are labour shortages in all three
countries; the most prominent is in the service
sector in Denmark.

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