In the first three months of this year, job vacancies dropped by 421 when compared to the corresponding period of 2024. The sectors with the most job openings were wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage, accommodation and food service activities, professional, scientific and technical activities, and administrative and support service activities.

Figures published by the National Statistics Office show that between January and March of this year, there were 8,273 job vacancies — a decrease of 4.8% compared to the previous year. This decline is primarily due to the public sector, which includes public administration, education, health, and defence, where job vacancies fell by 778.

The wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage, accommodation and food services activities along with the professional, scientific, technical, administration and support service activities, generated more than half of all vacancies during the first quarter of 2025. On the other hand, the real estate activities sector recorded the lowest number of job vacancies, standing at 1.4% of the total number of calls for application in Q1 2025.

Professional, scientific, technical, administration and support service activities recorded the highest year-on-year increase in the number of vacancies, with an addition of 287 vacancies totalling to 2,269 vacancies. This was followed by the construction sector, which saw an increase of 194 vacancies. On the contrary, public administration, defence, education, human health and social work activities, experienced the largest drop when compared to the first quarter of 2024, with a reduction of 778 vacancies.

Data also shows an inverse relationship between enterprise size and number of job vacancies. In this regard, small enterprises (1 to 49 employees) contributed to approximately six in every ten vacancies whereas companies with 250 employees or more generated 14.8% of all vacancies of the first quarter of 2025.

In the private sector, job vacancies increased by 454 between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, totalling to 7,827, whereas within the public sector, the total for the same period stood at 446. The private sector continues to dominate the job vacancy market, representing 94.6% of all vacancies, leaving the public sector with a 5.4% share.

Occupied Posts

During the first quarter of 2025, the total number of occupied posts within enterprises employing one or more employees stood at 271,227. Over one half of these posts were recorded in the wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage, accommodation and food service activities and in public administration, defence, education, human health and social work activities. Over a period of one year, these economic activities registered a growth of 1.9 and 5.1% respectively. During the first quarter of 2025, 39.6% of occupied posts were estimated to be in enterprises employing 250 employees or more. Units with 50 to 249 employees made up just above one fourth of all occupied posts.

Occupied posts within the private sector stood at 213,772, garnering 78.8% of the total amount of jobs. The public sector totalled 57,455, making up the remaining 21.2%. However, contractor employees servicing public entities are considered as from the private sector.  

Job Vacancy Rate

In the first quarter of 2025, 3.0% of jobs were vacant, increasing by 0.1 percentage points when compared to the preceding quarter and decreasing by 0.2 percentage points with the first quarter of 2024. The job vacancy rate was highest within the construction sector (4.8%) whilst the public administration, defence, education, human health and social work activities registered the lowest rate of job vacancies (1.4%).

Small enterprises, with 1 to 49 employees, showed a higher job vacancy rate of 4.8%, suggesting a greater demand for labour in this segment. Large enterprises, comprising 250 or more employees, exhibited a lower rate of job vacancies at 1.1%.

The private sector registered a job vacancy rate of 3.5% in the first quarter of 2025 whereas 0.8% of total jobs in the public sector were vacant during the same period.