In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and the government measures to curb its spread affected the labour market in the EU.
In the second quarter of 2020, when the EU was in the 'first wave' of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of recent job leavers peaked at 6.3 million while the number of job starters fell to 5.0 million.
In the last quarter of 2020 (Q4 2020), the number of recent job leavers remained stable compared to Q3 2020, whereas the number of recent job starters dropped slightly to 6.8 million.
Source:
Eurostat, 22 April 2021