The job vacancy rate in the European Union (EU) was also 1.7 % in the Q1 of 2015, stable compared to the previous quarter but up from 1.6 % in the Q1 of 2014, said Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
The job vacancy rate in Lithuania was 1.1 % in the Q1 of 2015, up by 0.2 % age points compared with the fourth quarter of 2014 and up by 0.1 % age point compared with the Q1 of 2014.
In the euro area, the job vacancy rate in the Q1 of 2015 was 1.1 % in industry and construction and 2.3 % in services. In the EU, the rate was 1.2 % in industry and construction and 2.2 % in services.
Among the Member States for which comparable data are available, the highest job vacancy rates in the Q1 of 2015 were recorded in Germany (2.9 %), the United Kingdom (2.4 pct) Belgium and Sweden (both 2.1 pct) and Finland (2.0 pct), and the lowest in Latvia (0.5 pct), Poland (0.5 pct in the fourth quarter of 2014), Portugal (0.6 pct) and Spain (0.7 pct).
Among the Member States for which data for the Q1 of 2015 are published, the job vacancy rate rose in sixteen, remained stable in six and fell in five compared to the Q1 of 2014. The largest increases were registered in the Czech Republic (+0.7 % age points), Malta (+0.5 pp) and Croatia (+0.4 pp). The only decreases were recorded in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France and Finland (all -0.1 pp).