Throughout the third quarter 2020,the labour market across the European Union(EU) recovered to some extent as COVID-19 measures taken were relaxed by most Member States. Persons who had been temporarily absent from work thus returned to work, and those who had been unable to search for a job or had been unavailable to take up a job returned to the labour force. This has contributed to an increase in both employment and unemployment, and to a slight decrease of the overall labour market slack.

In the third quarter of 2020, 188.0millionpersons in the EU were employed. The EU seasonally adjusted employment rate for people aged 20-64 stood at 72.4%, up by 0.3pp from7 2.1% in the second quarter 2020.14.8millionpersonswere unemployed.The EU seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was7.3%, up from 6.7% in the second quarter 2020. At the same time, seasonally adjusted total labour market slack in the EU, consisting in unmet need for work, amounted to 29.4 million persons, which represented 13.9% of the extended labour force in the third quarter 2020, slightly down from 14.1% in the second quarter 2020.