According to a report on the quality of life in European cities, it is much easier to find a job in western and northern European cities than in southern cities, reports SchengenVisaInfo.com.
A report published by the European Commission showed that more than half of residents of western and northern EU countries — 53 percent of respondents — believe that finding a job is easy, while in the southern countries of the union, only one in four people have this opinion.
Prague (Czech Republic) tops the list of the most favorable cities for finding a job, with 79 percent of respondents saying it is easy to find a job in the city, followed by Cluj-Napoca (Romania) with 73 percent.
Munich (Germany) and Bratislava (Slovakia) rank third and fourth among the cities considered the most promising for employment — 72 percent of respondents confirm this. In addition, 71 percent of survey participants said that Hamburg, Germany, is an “easy” city to find a job. It was ranked fifth in the ranking of cities with the most available jobs, according to respondents.
The list of ten cities with the most affordable jobs is completed by Oslo (Norway) with 69 percent of respondents agreeing with this and Stockholm (Sweden) with 68 percent. Warsaw (Poland) comes in eighth place with 66 percent of respondents saying it is easy to find a job there, followed by Sofia (Bulgaria) and Tallinn (Estonia) with 65 percent each.
On the other hand, the city of Palermo has an exceptionally low rate of just four percent of people believing that work is available. It was the hardest place to get a job in 2023, followed by Naples (Italy) with 11 percent and Oviedo (Spain) with 16 percent.
The report also highlights that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with demographic changes, have led to labor shortages in the EU, creating challenges for urban economies. Although cities generally offer more specialized and higher-paying jobs compared to rural areas, the ease of finding a job varies widely among city residents.
Outside the EU, cities in the UK and EFTA states have a relatively high proportion of residents who are satisfied with the availability of work, at 54 percent. However, in the Western Balkans and Turkey, the numbers drop sharply, with just 38 and 46 percent of residents respectively feeling positive about job prospects.