European Labour Market Snapshot — October 2026 - Indeed Hiring Lab

The Indeed Hiring Lab monthly snapshot of European labour markets summarizes where key indicators – job postings, wages and unemployment – stand as of October 2026, and flags the trends worth watching in the months ahead. We focus on major EU markets in this post. Europe’s labour markets remain resilient in level terms, but hiring growth remains elusive. Indeed’s euro area Job Postings Index stood at 102.7 on 16 October, just under 3% above its February 2020 baseline, and down 13% on the year. In fact, none of the European countries we analyse has seen positive posting growth over the past year. Although at 6.4%, euro area unemployment is still well below its 2019 average (7.6%), joblessness is edging up in many countries.