Number of job vacancies rising

At the end of September 2006, the seasonally corrected number of job vacancies stood at 219 thousand. Considerably higher than at the end of the second quarter, when 30 thousand fewer jobs were vacant. The number of unfilled job vacancies at the end of September 2006 is unprecedented.

The amount of job vacancies increased across all sectors compared with the preceding quarter. The demand for new staff was particularly high in the sector commercial services. There was an increase of 17 thousand vacancies compared to the second quarter, mainly in business services. The sector business services employs lawyers, auditors and ICT specialists, etc.

In the sector manufacturing industry and construction, the number of job vacancies increased sharply. Corrected for seasonal effects, the number of job vacancies grew by one third to reach 40 thousand.

The labour market remains very active. Just like in the preceding quarters, there was an increase in both new and filled vacancies compared to the same period last year. In the third quarter, 36 thousand extra jobs became available compared to the third quarter of 2005 and 45 thousand more job vacancies were filled. Altogether, an unprecedented 274 thousand vacancies were filled in the third quarter of 2006.

The vacancy rate is defined as the number of vacant jobs per one thousand jobs. It is indicative of the degree of tightness on the labour market. For 30 months now, the vacancy rate has been higher than in the same period of the previous year. At the end of September 2006, there were 29 vacancies in every one thousand jobs, 7 more than at the end of September 2005. The highest vacancy rates were recorded in the sectors construction, hotels and restaurants and business services.

Job vacancies, seasonally adjusted