In the third quarter of 2021, the number of recent job starters aged 20-64 in the EU (people who started their current job in the last 3 months) was close to 8.0 million, which represents an increase of 7% compared with the second quarter of 2021 (7.4 million). Men accounted for slightly more of these recent hires, 4.1 million, against 3.9 million women.
Looking at the distribution by occupational groups (according to ISCO), it was clear that the distribution of recent job starters did not follow the pattern for total employment in the third quarter of 2021. When economies were continuing to rebound from COVID-19, some occupations saw a higher level of hiring than others, which was the case for service and sales workers and elementary occupations. In contrast, there was a lower proportion of job starters amongst managers.
Among all recent job starters, service and sales workers represented the largest category at 24%, while accounting for only 16% of total employed people in the third quarter of 2021. This category was followed by people having elementary occupations, representing 16% of recent job starters, but only 8% of total employment.
In contrast, the third-largest group among recent job starters – professionals – represented a much lower share among recent job starters (16%) than among total employment (21%).
Employed people and recent job starters (aged 20-64) by occupation group (ISCO-08) in the EU, Q3 2021 in the EU
The percentage of recent job starters in employment for each group of occupation can complement the picture. In the third quarter of 2021, the highest share can be found for the elementary occupations (with 8% of recent job starters among people with these occupations), followed by the service and sales workers (7%), clerical support workers (4%) and plant and machine operators and assemblers (4%). In contrast, managers (2%) had the lowest percentages of recently employed people in the third quarter of 2021.
