According to the European statistical office, this is the highest employment rate recorded since the start of the time series in 2009.

The indicator increased by 0.5 percentage points (p.p.) compared to 2023 and by 1.2 p.p. compared to 2022.

Among the EU member states, the highest employment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (83.5 per cent), Malta (83.0 per cent) and the Czech Republic (82.3 per cent).

The lowest rates, on the other hand, were recorded in Italy (67.1 per cent), Greece (69.3 per cent) and Romania (69.5 per cent).

Eurostat also indicates that in 2024 the EU's overqualification rate was 21.3 per cent, with 20.5 per cent for men and 22.0 per cent for women.

Overqualification occurs when people with higher education are employed in professions that don't require such a high level of education.

The overqualification rate was highest in Spain (35.0 per cent), followed by Greece (33.0 per cent) and Cyprus (28.2 per cent).

At the other extreme, Luxembourg (4.7 per cent), Croatia (12.6 per cent) and the Czech Republic (12.8 per cent) recorded the lowest rates.