EU Immigrant Employment Hits Record 68.2% in 2025 as Native-Born Gap Narrows
Updated
Updated · The Corner Economic · Aug 3
EU Immigrant Employment Hits Record 68.2% in 2025 as Native-Born Gap Narrows
1 articles · Updated · The Corner Economic · Aug 3
Summary
Immigrants’ employment rate in the EU rose to a record 68.2% in 2025 from 67.8%, extending a multiyear climb and moving closer to the native-born rate of 71.6%.
Non-EU immigrants drove much of the longer-term gain, with their employment rate up 6.6 percentage points since 2017 to 66.0%, while EU-born immigrants reached 74.8%.
Country results still vary sharply for non-EU migrants, from 83.7% in Malta and 77.3% in the Czech Republic to 58.5% in Belgium and 58.6% in Finland.
The remaining gap is increasingly concentrated among non-EU women and highly educated migrants, whose skills are often underused despite Europe’s labor shortages.
RFBerlin researchers said better recognition of foreign qualifications, fewer certification barriers and higher participation by non-EU women could unlock more of the EU labor market’s potential.