Unemployment continues to decrease

The number of available resident jobseekers registered with ADEM stood at 18,249 on 30 April 2021. Compared to March 2021, this is a decrease of 440 people. Compared to April 2020, this is a decrease of 2,004 people or 9.9%. In April 2020, the health crisis hit the labour market hard, with a 31.1% annual increase in jobseekers. The current decrease can therefore be seen as a backlash. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate calculated by STATEC is 6.1%. After a sudden rise in unemployment in March and April 2020, when the rate reached 6.9%, it began to fall gradually to its current level.

Long-term unemployment is on the rise and is affecting more and more jobseekers. The number of jobseekers registered for more than 12 months is up by 8.9% compared to April 2020 and the number of jobseekers who have been inactive for more than 12 months is up by 19.9% over one year. In this context, "inactive" means that these people were neither in employment, nor on an employment measure, nor on sickness or maternity leave. The situation of jobseekers under the age of 30 has improved. While young people were particularly affected in spring 2020, their numbers are now falling faster than average (-17.2%).

In April 2021, 2,043 residents registered with ADEM, an increase of 247 people or 13.8% compared to April 2020. In April 2020 the number of registrations was particularly low, following the massive use of short-time working.

The number of resident jobseekers receiving full unemployment benefit fell by 148 or 1.5% year-on-year to 9,581. The number of people in an employment measure stands at 4,518, well above the level observed in April 2020 (+778 people, or 20.8%). In April 2020, as a result of the strict containment, some employment measures were stopped and hardly anyone started a new measure.

During April 2021, employers reported 2,937 vacancies to ADEM, an increase of 55% compared to April 2020. It should be noted that in April 2020, the number of vacant positions declared was particularly low: 1,895 jobs, i.e. 43.2% fewer than in April 2019. As of April 30, 2021, ADEM had a total of 8,289 vacant positions available in its files. Over one year, the number of vacaant positions has increased by 32.8%.

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