The European Union has published the Joint Employment Report 2026, offering an overview of how Europe’s labour markets and social policies are evolving.

The report highlights progress on employment, skills and poverty reduction across EU Member States and looks at how national governments are implementing EU employment guidelines. The report also provides important insights into current challenges and opportunities for the employment of people with disabilities.

Background

The Joint Employment Report is an annual report prepared by the European Commission, together with the Council of the European Union. It is part of the European Semester, the EU’s framework for coordinating economic, employment and social policies across Member States.

Each year, the report monitors the employment and social situation in the EU, assesses how Member States implement the EU Employment Guidelines, identifies key labour market and social challenges, and highlights policy priorities for the coming years.

The report also tracks progress towards the EU’s 2030 social targets, including increasing employment rates, improving participation in training and reducing poverty.

What does the 2026 report say?

Overall, the report paints a mixed picture of the European labour market.

On the positive side, employment levels in the EU continue to grow. In 2024, the EU employment rate reached 75.8%, bringing the EU closer to its 2030 target of 78% employment for people aged 20–64.

At the same time, several structural challenges remain: skills shortages persist across many sectors; participation in adult learning and training remains below EU targets; progress in reducing poverty is slower than expected; and regional and social inequalities continue to affect access to employment.

The report also highlights the role of EU policies and funding programmes, such as the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and the Recovery and Resilience Facility, in supporting employment, social inclusion and skills development across the Union. In our article, we also discuss the importance of preserving these tools in the next EU budget.

What does it say about disability and employment?

The Joint Employment Report highlights persistent inequalities faced by people with disabilities in the labour market.

One of the indicators monitored in the report is the “disability employment gap”, which measures the difference in employment rates between persons with and without disabilities. It was at 24 percentage points (pps) in 2024 on average across all Member States, with Slovenia improving their situation over the last year and reaching a historically low 14.2 pps gap, while Italy, Spain, and Belgium had a backlash, with the latter reaching the gap of 33.1 pps.

Different countries introduced measures to support disability-related employment measures, for example, by adopting a pension reform (Slovenia), increasing the number of Employment Personal Advisors (Ireland), indexing pensions (Lithuania), topping up care allowance for children with disabilities (Latvia), or strengthening the level and adequacy of disability benefits (Estonia, France, Cyprus, Romania, Spain, Slovenia) and the financial support to carers (Malta, Slovakia, Romania).

The report notes that improving employment outcomes for underrepresented groups, including people with disabilities, remains a key challenge across many Member States. It links this issue to broader EU policy initiatives, such as the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Social Economy Action Plan and suggests that stronger policy action is needed.

For more information, read the full report: Joint employment report 2026 - Publications Office of the EU