Education, Unemployment and Labour Market Imbalances: a Statistical Overview

This paper examines labour market imbalances in selected Central and Eastern European (CEE) and Western Balkan countries over the period 2010–2024. Several harmonised indicators are analysed to illustrate labour market dynamics and to identify differences and divergent trends between countries. For labour force participation rates across educational levels, no consistent trends are observed across countries, even when grouped. The relationship between job vacancy and unemployment rates indicates that Czechia is the only country where the job vacancy rate exceeds the unemployment rate for almost the entire period, while data for Romania show declining trends for both indicators. North Macedonia displays the largest discrepancy between these two labour market indicators.