January is a popular time for career moves, but those searching for a job in the UK may find it trickier that their peers elsewhere in Europe.
More than 10 million people are unemployed across Europe’s five largest economies as of late 2025.
As people look ahead to job opportunities in 2026, the outlook is fairly bleak in some countries, particularly the UK, according to global hiring platform Indeed.
That's despite a push from the British government to boost jobs and growth in the country, a task hindered by sluggish productivity, the Brexit fallout, and weak business investment.
But how exactly does the UK compare to its European neighbours, and which countries have the most job openings?
Indeed has measured current job postings against the level seen on 1 February 2020, with 100 showing the number before COVID-19.
UK stands alone in negative territory
As of 28 November 2025, job postings in the UK (80.2) remain 20% below their pre-pandemic level. That's 8 percentage points lower than during the same period in 2024, when the index was at 88.3.
“The UK's relative underperformance partly reflects increased employment costs and policy uncertainty,” Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Indeed told Euronews Business.
The UK government raised employer social security contributions this year, increasing them to 15% on salaries above £5,000. That's up from a 13.8% rate on salaries above £9,100.
Adding to the burden on businesses, the UK has seen fairly large increases in the minimum wage in recent years, as well as uncertainty over the contents of the government's Employment Rights Bill.
The bill, which seeks to improve protections for workers, has been travelling back and forth between the House of Lords and the Commons as politicians fail to agree on the proposed measures.
“These factors have weighed on employer confidence and acted as headwinds to hiring, particularly for low-wage jobs where costs have risen the most,” Kennedy added.
The unemployment rate reached 5.1% in the UK in the third quarter, a level previously exceeded only in early 2021.
“If the economy performs at the higher end of expectations in 2026 and employer confidence recovers, that could translate into a stabilisation or even a modest rise in vacancy levels and a moderate dip in unemployment,” Kennedy said.
Germany and France above pre-pandemic levels
Job postings in France (113.3) and Germany (115.6) are around 15 percentage points above their pre-pandemic levels in late November 2025.
However, compared with the same period a year earlier, the index has fallen in both countries. Germany is down by 13 points and France by 20 points.
Differences between the five countries in the posting index started to emerge in mid-2022.
Lisa Feist, an economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, pointed out that France’s labour market is shaped by political and economic uncertainty, with downgraded credit ratings weighing on activity.
Due to political disagreements over how to plug the national deficit, France has seen repeated government collapses over the past year. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has now managed to secure a consensus on a social security budget for 2026, although a state budget has yet to be agreed.
“This uncertainty is having a detrimental effect on consumption and investment, which in turn impacts those involved in the labour market,” Feist said.
The OECD projects that real GDP or national output will grow only 0.8% in France in 2025. It forecasts growth at 1% in 2026 and 2027.
Spain continues to perform strongly
Spain (153.5) and Italy (168.1) are performing far better than the other three economies. Job postings are 54% above pre-pandemic levels in Spain and 68% higher in Italy.
Compared with the same period in 2024, these two countries are the only ones showing an increase. Spain’s index rose by 13 points while Italy recorded a modest 1-point rise.
“Italy's and Spain's strong performances reflect generally positive growth trends, with job postings staying elevated alongside rising labour shortages,” Kennedy said.
While Spain and Italy continue to perform better in terms of job vacancies, Lisa Feist underlined that their labour markets are less tight than those in France or Germany, and Spain has a higher unemployment rate. According to Eurostat, Spain had the highest unemployment rate in the EU in October 2025 at 10.5%.
Among Europe’s top five economies, Spain is expected to show the strongest real GDP growth in 2025 (2.9%), 2026 (2.2%) and 2027 (1.8%).
