Although in general terms, the labour demand continues to decline in most of the European Union, in the case of high-skilled professionals the trend is opposite. In addition to differences according to skills level, the data also show that a strong gender gap still persists as well as the remaining differences between Member States in the proportion of available jobs and job-seekers.

The December edition of the European Vacancy Monitor shows that the general decline in labour demand was particularly severe in the case of craftsmen, operators and elementary occupations. By contrast, the demand for high-skilled workers has continued to grow in general terms. It is estimated that demand for workers with a higher level of skills have increased by 5% in the case of professionals and by 2% in the case of technicians and associate professionals in sectors such as business, finance and health.

The report, issued by the European Commission as part of its flagship initiative "Agenda for New Skills and Jobs", also points out that only 6% of workers have found employment were aged between 55 to 64 years. In addition to the difficulty for older workers to find a new job, the report shows that these jobs are mainly in elementary occupations with lower qualifications. The gender gap in this regard shows that older men are generally hired in construction, less skilled jobs in transport or agriculture, while in the case of women they are hired in the cleaning sector, as child care assistants or shop salespersons.

The report also shows that temporary work agencies have not been immune to this trend, even though the numbers have been volatile between December 2009 and August 2012. For the five countries covered by the report, the most recent decline was experienced in the summer of 2012, although not uniformly. The biggest drop was recorded in Spain while the slightest one was experienced in the UK. The data show that in the cases of Spain and the Netherlands many employers were already using temporary employment agencies and the decrease in its use is mainly due to the general economic downturn.