Labour mobility and cross-border matching – why does it matter?
The free movement of workers is a cornerstone of the Single Market, complementing the free movement of goods, capital and services. The mobility of workers within the EU provides opportunities to both people willing to work abroad and to businesses looking to recruit staff.
EURES, a system set up by EU legislation, supports specifically the matching of workers across borders by increasing transparency on vacancies available in other Member States, EEA countries and Switzerland.
Mobility
This indicator tracks the share of people of working age (20-64 years) in each EU Member State who are nationals of another EU Member State (‘EU movers’). The indicator provides a snapshot of the extent to which businesses in an EU Member State rely on mobile workers from the rest of the EU.
Sources: Own elaboration based on Eurostat population statistics including international migration(online data code: migr_pop1ctz)
For further information and data, consult the Annual Report on Intra-EU Labour Mobility.
EURES
EURES and the Single Market – why does it matter?
EURES helps people benefit from one of the EU’s core principles – the free movement of workers. Jobseekers can use it to find work in other European countries and employers can likewise recruit from across Europe. Find out more about EURES.
Performance indicators
[1] Compliance with the EURES Performance Measurement System | ≥7 | >3 – <7 | ≤3 |
---|---|---|---|
[2] IT compliance for the EURES Portal | 2 | 1 | 0 |
[3] Labour market share | ≥50 | 49 – 21 | ≤20 |
[4] User satisfaction with EURES services | ≥7 | 4 – 6 | ≤3 |
[5] Job placements vs labour mobility | >4% | 2 – 4% | <2% |
Indicator [1]: Compliance with the EURES Performance Measurement System
The chart shows how well each country has complied with the requirements of the EURES Performance Measurement System (Articles 30 and 32 of the EURES Regulation) (i.e. the completeness of the mandatory data provided for all 11 indicators).
All EURES countries are required to report on the overall functioning and performance of EURES.
This reporting is based on five core indicators and six network indicators set out in Decision (EU) 2018/170. Mandatory and optional data are to be provided for each indicator.
The scores in the chart above are based on the mandatory data provided for each of the 11 indicators:
- 1 point – if all the mandatory data were provided for an indicator
- 0.5 points – for providing some of the mandatory data
- 0 points – if no mandatory data were provided
The maximum possible score for a country is 11 points.
Thresholds: if a country scores between 7 and 11 points, it is awarded 100 points in the overall performance chart. If it scores between 4 and 6, it is awarded 75 points. If it scores between 0 and 3, it is awarded 50 points.
Source: PMS data collection 2023
Indicator [2]: IT compliance for the EURES portal
This chart shows the extent to which the national coordination offices transfer job applications/CVs and job vacancies to the EURES portal via the required channel.
The score in this chart is based on whether just vacancies or just CVs are transferred through the single channel, or both vacancies and CVs:
- 1 point – if a country transfers only vacancies or only CVs
- 2 points – if it transfers both vacancies and CVs
Thresholds: If a country scores 2 points, it is awarded 100 points in the overall performance chart. If it scores 1 point, it is awarded 75 points. If it scores 0, it is awarded 50 points.
Source: PMS data collection 2023
Indicator [3]: Labour market share
The chart shows job vacancies on the EURES portal as a proportion of all job vacancies in the participating countries (whether or not they are made available by EURES member or partner organisations). The chart indicates how much of the labour market is covered by EURES and the degree to which EURES provides transparency on the labour market.
Thresholds: If a country reports a value of 50% or above, it is awarded 100 points in the overall performance chart. If it reports a value between 21% and 49%, it is awarded 75 points. If it reports a value between 0% and 20%, it is awarded 50 points.
Note: If a country reports a value of 0% of labour market share, this could be either because Eurostat did not report any job vacancy rate or because the country did not report any data for PMS network indicator No 4c (the number of job vacancies made available through the single coordinated channel to the EURES portal). If a country reports a labour market share of more than 100%, it means that the number of job vacancies collected through EURES (numerator) is higher than that reported on Eurostat (denominator).
Sources: PMS data collection 2023 and Eurostat jvs_q_nace2
Indicator [4]: User satisfaction with EURES services
The chart shows the degree of jobseekers’ and employers’ satisfaction with the services offered by EURES advisers (information and guidance, recruitment, job search, etc.).
Each participating country is required to collect and share user-satisfaction data with the EURES network (including data obtained through surveys). User satisfaction is measured on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest possible score and 10 the highest.
Thresholds: If a country scores between 7 and 10, it is awarded 100 points in the overall performance chart. If it scores between 4 and 6, it is awarded 75 points. If it scores between 0 and 3, it is awarded 50 points.
Indicator [5]: Job placements vs labour mobility
For each country, the chart shows the ratio between the total number of EURES job finders (incoming and outgoing) and the total number of intra-EU movers of working age, i.e. EU citizens moving to a Member State other than the Member State of they are a citizen (the sum of inflows and outflows of workers moving from/into the country).
Note: ratios of 0% are due to missing values for incoming job finders or missing values on labour mobility.
Thresholds: If a country scores higher than 4%, it is awarded 100 points in the overall performance chart. If it scores between 4% and 2%, it is awarded 75 points. If it scores between 0% and 2%, it is awarded 50 points.
Sources: European Commission (2025), 2023 Annual Report on Intra-EU Labour Mobility, and PMS data collection 2023.