According to the report, in 2020, there was a significant decline in labour mobility due to the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the number of working-age EU citizens living in another Member State remained stable at 10.2 million in 2020.

In 2021, employment rates increased toward pre-pandemic levels, and unemployment rates started to decline, although they remained above pre-pandemic levels.

EU citizens and migrants have an employment rate of 74 per cent in 2021.

The highest employment rates of EU migrants in EU Member States were found in the Netherlands (80 per cent) and Germany (78 per cent), while the lowest were found in Greece (56 percent) and Italy (64 percent) in 2021.

In 2021, 32 percent of nationals moving to the EU had a high level of education, up from 28 per cent in 2016, and the proportion of also highly educated third-country nationals increased to 24 per cent.

The most common occupations among EU movers were elementary occupations (18 per cent), professionals (18 per cent), and service and sales workers (16 per cent), and the most critical employment sector for movers was manufacturing (17 per cent). In contrast, movers were most over-represented in construction, accommodation, and food services.

The report shows that in 2021 there were 1.7 million cross-border workers active in the EU and EFTA, mainly in Germany (378 000 incoming workers), Switzerland (345 000), and Luxembourg (212 000), making almost 60 per cent of all cross-border workers.

Cross-border workers are concentrated in certain sectors and in some areas, it also depends on certain factors, such as institutional cooperation between border regions (solid in some macro-regions such as Upper Rhine and Greater Region).

The report stresses a general shift towards professional occupations among EU movers from 2016 to 2021 and a decreasing share of medium-skilled mobile workers.

The contribution of EU migrants to total employment is highest among occupations requiring medium-low skills, such as cleaners and helpers, mining, construction, manufacturing and transport, and construction and related trades workers.

Based on the available data, the report concludes that the overall low share of intra-EU transferees compared to nationals shows that labour mobility within the EU cannot significantly alleviate labour shortages in the short term.