Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The EU Commission’s 2024 labour market review highlights strong employment growth, rising wages, and improved job matching, but warns of future challenges from skill shortages, low productivity, and an ageing population.
On 19 Dec 2024, the European Commission issued its 2024 annual review of labour markets and wage developments in Europe. The review also contained a preface by Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu.
The document as reported by the EU Commission, indicates that the European Union labour market continued to be robust in 2023, despite the economic deceleration, with historically lower unemployment and 5.5 million employment developed since 2019. Non-Eureopan Union nationals, including Ukrainians, and elder individuals between the ages of 55 and 64 years contributed the majority of this growth. According to the report, the promising labour market developments image gains in the matching between job petitioners and vacancies.
The review uncovers that in 2023, wages began rising again. Lower-income households were better shielded, mainly due to substantial gains in statutory minimum wages that allowed buffer the effect of high inflation on the buying power of low-wage earners. This also demonstrates the significance of the new European Union minimum wage laws that are now in place to support Europe’s social fairness.
The report also indicates that prospects for older employees to stay in employment are growing. It found that, by 2030, there will be an extra 8.8 million employees between 55 and 68, partially due to recent pension reforms in European Union Member nations. On the other hand, the report cautions that widespread labour and skills deficiencies, low productivity, and an aged population, could in the long term damage the recent favourable shifts in the labour market and the European Union’s long-term competitiveness.Â
