Fewer job vacancies

At the end of September 2011, there were 133 thousand job vacancies, i.e. 4 thousand fewer than at the end of June. The number of job vacancies had grown continuously over the five preceding quarters. Job vacancy figures are adjusted for seasonal variation.

The number of job vacancies declined across almost the entire private sector.With 79 thousand, the commercial services sector recorded most job vacancies. In manufacturing industry and construction, the number of open job vacancies stood at 14 thousand and 6 thousand respectively. The number of job vacancies in the public sector remained stable at 8 thousand.

The number of vacancies per one thousand jobs - the so-called vacancy rate - is an indicator for the degree of tightness on the labour market. The vacancy rate for the third quarter was 16, as against 18 in the second quarter.

The labour market was just about as dynamic as in 2010. In the third quarter of this year, 193 thousand new vacancies were created, a decline by 4 thousand relative to the third quarter of 2010. The number of filled vacancies amounted to 206 thousand, i.e. 8 thousand more than one year previously.

Job vacancies, seasonally adjusted