Slight decline in European online recruitment activity

The Monster Employment Index Europe saw a slight decline in April, dropping one point as online recruiting across the European Union continued to slow. At the same time, the Index’s annual growth rate improved for the first time in more than 12 months, indicating the pace of slowdown in European employer demand for workers may be moderating.

Bucking the overall trend in April, online advertised vacancies in France increased for a third consecutive month, partly due to seasonal demand, while the United Kingdom saw a more modest rise. However, these were offset by reduced hiring most significantly in Sweden and the Netherlands, with smaller declines also seen in Germany, Italy and Belgium.

The Monster Employment Index Europe is a monthly analysis of millions of online job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards across Europe, including Monster.

Monster Employment Index Europe findings the past 13 months are as follows:

“EU online recruitment activity continued to slow in April, but the pace of deterioration seems to be stabilising,” said Hugo Sellert, head of economic research at Monster Worldwide. “While current levels of worker demand are not sufficient to prevent further rises in unemployment, there are signs that businesses across Europe are becoming slightly more confident in the economy.”