(ANSA) - BELGRADE, JUNE 17 - The highest job vacancy rates among EU Member States in the first quarter of 2019 was recorded in the Czech Republic, Eurostat said in a statement today. Czechia, with a 6.4% job vacancy rate, was followed by Belgium (3.6%) and Germany (3.3%). In contrast, Eurostat added, the lowest rates were observed in Greece (0.6%), Spain (0.9%) and Portugal, Ireland and Bulgaria (all 1.0%).

In a comparison year-on-year, the job vacancy rate in the first quarter of 2019 rose in fourteen Member States, with the largest increases registered in Czechia (+1.6 pp), Cyprus (+0.8 pp), Latvia (+0.6 pp), Germany and the Netherlands (both +0.4 pp).

The job vacancy rate in the first quarter of this year was 1.9% in Estonia, 2.0% in Croatia, 3.0% in Latvia, 1.5% in Lithuania, 2.5% in Hungary, 3.1% in Austria, 1.1% in Poland, 1.2% in Romania, 2.7% in Slovenia, 1.2% in Slovakia. (ANSA).