According to Euro­stat, the employ­ment rate for people aged 20 to 64 in the EU was 70.1% in 2015.

Nevertheless, this figure is still almost five percentage points below the Europe 2020 target of 75%. Six Member States have already achieved this including Germany, who has the second highest employment rate (78%) after Sweden. The employment rate for older workers (aged 55 to 65) increased to 53.3%. In this age group, Germany also had the second-best rate (66.2%) after Sweden.