As one of the actions within the Europe 2020 flagship initiative "An agenda for new skills and jobs“, the Commission launched two quarterly bulletins to gather up-to-date information on labour demand and job vacancies. They will also serve as an early-warning tool for bottlenecks and mismatches on the labour market.

   The European Vacancy Monitor provides an overview of recent developments on the European job market. Data on job vacancies, job finders and hiring will inform about trends in occupational demand and skills requirements.

In this first edition we find that in Europe:

• 40 million people found new jobs last year despite crisis;
• The number of job finders increased by 8 % in the second quarter of 2010;
• There is a higher demand for sales, cleaning and restaurant workers;
• Employers in most countries find vacancies requiring technical and administrative skills hardest to fill.

The European Job Mobility Bulletin is focused on the analysis of vacancies.

In this first edition we find that the top 5 jobs in Europe are:

• Finances and sales associated professionals: 12.300 vacancies in Germany, 3.400 in Belgium, 2.900 in the Netherlands;
• Housekeeping and restaurant services workers: 12.200 vacancies in Austria, 10.800 in Germany, 5100 in the UK;
• Electrical and electronical equipment mechanics and fitters: 14.100 in Germany, 7.500 in the UK, 1.300 in the Netherlands;
• Shop sales persons and demonstrators: 6.700 vacancies in Germany, 2.600 in Belgium, 2.200 in Austria;
• Personal care and related workers: 12.200 in Germany; 1.600 in Belgium, 1.000 in France.