A total of 26.7 million people, or nearly 12% of potential workers in the European Union remain inactive, according to new figures from Eurostat.
11.7% of the EU’s extended labour force — equating to 26.7 million people aged 15 to 74 — are available for work but not employed to their full potential.
This group includes the unemployed, people in part-time jobs wanting more hours, those ready to work but not actively job-hunting, and people seeking work but not immediately available to start.
Labour market slack, a term covering these varied groups, has decreased over the past decade.
In 2015, the figure sat at 18.6%, showing a steady decline.
Spain had the highest proportion of inactive people in the bloc, at 19.3%, with Finland and Sweden following closely behind.
At the other end of the scale, Poland, Malta, Slovenia and Hungary reported the lowest levels — around 5 to 6% of their extended labour forces.
Unemployment still the main challenge
A closer look at the numbers indicates that outright unemployment made up the biggest single part of labour market slack, accounting for 5.7%.
The rest came from people available to work but not seeking a job (2.7%), underemployed part-time workers (2.4%), and those seeking work but not immediately available to start (0.9%).
Most EU countries saw the biggest share of labour slack coming from those officially unemployed, particularly in Spain, Greece, Finland and Sweden.
Not every country followed this trend, however. In Ireland and the Netherlands, underemployment among part-time workers was the main issue, while in Czechia and Italy, people not actively seeking work or not immediately available to start made up the largest shares.
