In 2024, Calabria, Campania and Sicily were the European regions with the lowest employment rate in the EU in 2024 in the age group between 20 and 64 years, standing at 48.5%, 49.4% and 50.7% respectively. Puglia recorded a rate of 55.3%. This was reported by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Behind them, according to Eurostat, only some regions in Türkiye, which however are not part of the EU.
In 2024, approximately one in 4 regions in Europe (65 out of 243), Eurostat specifies in a note, had an employment rate lower than 73.5%. Among these, also the Brussels capital region, in Belgium (64.1%), Lazio in Italy (69%), Vienna in Austria (70.6%) and Attiki in Greece (71%).
Last year, the average employment rate in the EU reached an all-time high of 75.8%, 2.2 percentage points below the 78% target set by the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan for 2030. Almost half (46.5%) of all EU regions, 113 out of 243 according to available data, had reached or exceeded the EU target of 78%.
Among the highest concentrations are the Czech Republic (all 8 regions), Denmark (all 5 regions), Germany (35 out of 38 regions), Ireland (all 3 regions), the Netherlands (all 12 regions), Slovakia (3 out of 4 regions) and Sweden (all 8 regions). The regions with the highest employment rates, and the only ones to record rates above 85%, were the Aland archipelago in Finland (86.4%), the Warsaw region (86.2%), Bratislava (85.4%), Budapest (85.3%), Utrecht in the Netherlands (85.3%) and Prague (85.1%). Among the other Italian regions, only the autonomous province of Bolzano has already exceeded the target of 78%, reaching 79.9%. Among the other regions, the highest were the Autonomous Province of Trento (76.9%), Valle d’Aosta (77.6%), Tuscany (76.1%), Veneto and Emilia-Romagna (both at 75.6%). Friuli-Venezia Giulia recorded an employment percentage of 75.1%, while Lombardy and Piedmont mutually stood at 74.8% and 74.3%.