Online recruitment activity across the European Union continued slowing in July as sluggish demand in Germany offset seasonal upticks in France and Italy. The Index’s year-on-year decline of 66 points (40 percent) represents the steepest annual drop on record, indicating the European labour market remains in contraction mode despite signs of stabilisation in some of the major markets. Sustained falls in sectors such as accounting, consulting, engineering, IT and R&D suggest many European businesses continue to rein in external costs and remain cautious about investing due to the uncertain economic climate.

In July, online job availability rose in ten of the Index’s 24 industry sectors and five of the nine occupational groups monitored. The Monster Employment Index Europe is a monthly analysis of millions of online job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards across Europe, including Monster.

“The continued slowdown in EU recruitment activity at the onset of the third quarter shows that recent improvements in overall economic sentiment have yet to boost job creation among European companies,” commented Hugo Sellert, head of economic research at Monster Worldwide. “Germany, where hiring started to cool at a relatively late stage of the downturn, is now weighing heavily on the Index while demand appears to have stabilized in other major markets such as France, Netherlands and the UK.”