Again fewer job vacancies

There were 97 thousand job vacancies at the end of March 2013. The number of job vacancies has declined gradually over the past two years, mostly due to a reduced demand for staff in the private sector. The number of unfilled job vacancies in the private sector remained fairly stable. At the end of March, there were 89 thousand vacancies in the private sector and 7 thousand in the public sector. Vacancy figures are adjusted for seasonal variation.

The number of vacancies per one thousand jobs, the so-called vacancy rate, is an indicator for the tension on the labour market. The vacancy rate climbed from 12 at the end of December to 13 at the end of March.

In the first quarter of 2013, the labour market was less dynamic than one year previously; 153 thousand new vacancies were created, i.e. 16 thousand down from one year previously. There were 150 thousand filled vacancies in the first quarter, a reduction by 18 thousand relative to the first quarter of 2012.

Job vacancies, seasonally adjusted